News-Press: "We strongly favor" Nixon's small business loan program

There isn't a lot of sympathy at the St. Joseph News-Press for Peter Kinder's concerns that the Governor's bipartisan low-interest loan program is both too generous and too limited to be effective.

Given [Kinder's] array of concerns, we still strongly favor the loan program. Our support is grounded in the real-life experiences of people like Tom Bliss, executive vice president of Mo-Kan Development Inc.

Mr. Bliss explained that small, start-up enterprises needing $5,000 to $10,000 frequently do not have the collateral required for obtaining a bank loan. And yet simply giving away the money does not seem to be necessary. Mr. Bliss points to a similar federal program making loans of $20,000 to $200,000 that has a very low default rate and has been a “tremendous success locally.”

Mo-Kan Development has requested $150,000 for loans in Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton and DeKalb counties. Green Hills Rural Development Inc. has applied for $200,000 to make available in several more nearby counties.

Administrators like Mr. Bliss should be given the opportunity to demonstrate that modest sums of money can make a big difference to small businesses. It may be true that $2 million “won’t go very far,” but good results on a “micro” scale could justify a greater state investment in the future.