Small Business Lending

As part of the stimulus bill the Small Business Administration will disburse funds in mid-June as part of "America's Recovery Capital" program. Apparently many potential lenders are nervous about the program and are not racing to support the plan, despite assurances from the SBA that details are coming soon (The SBA has released a fact sheet for lenders). Hopefully the details are clear and banks support the plan because, green shoots aside, small businesses are not yet out of the woods (USAT):

Nearly half of small-business owners say economic conditions for their firms will worsen in the next six months — and 49% said temporary cash-flow issues over the past 90 days already have caused them to hold off on paying bills. The findings, released today, are in a survey this month of 750 small-business owners by credit card issuer Discover Financial Services. [emphasis added]

The percentage reporting cash-flow issues is at the highest level since August 2006, when Discover launched the Discover Small Business Watch monthly survey of entrepreneurs who have fewer than five employees.