Purpose and Focus of the Long Island Advancement
of Small Business 
Small Business: The Backbone of the American Community

From our Nation’s founding, small businesses (SB) and small farmers have provided dynamic growth and innovation, created a flourishing middle-class, and supplied cities and small towns with new products and jobs. The competitive pressure placed on small businesses by industries of scale, coupled with the formation of mega financial
institutions, has left small businesses at a severe disadvantage. These mega financial institutions have damaged the fiscal landscape across the U.S. and around the globe by engaging in creative, but risky financial derivative schemes.

The international economic system depends on a base of risk-taking small business operators working in concert with large business, and this arrangement is badly damaged. The U.S. system of commerce is a creature of our own invention and it is our duty to see that it works again. The security and well being of our country depends on the leadership, perseverance and ingenuity of Small Business to set the new economic course. The entrepreneurial sector of the U.S. economy is not made up of followers. It is made up of leaders. Our country needs them to lead now.

Many of the major companies on Long island do not take advantage of the small companies, and their expertise that is available locally. Grumman was a major innovator when it came to utilizing the local small businesses to meet their demands when they were completing government contracts. Since Northrop has taken over the leadership of Grumman they have not taken advantage of the local small businesses. 

Major Long Island Corporations, while they have taken advantage of the tax credits and other tax advantages given to them by local government, they continue to ship both jobs and facilities to other parts of the United States and to foreign countries. Small companies find they are shut out of the contract process and eventually stop wasting time and money in the Department of Defense (DoD) procurement market. The country is the weaker for it. In a world crying out for a new diplomatic formula, Small Business people are once again left out. Small Business diplomacy could be, and should be mobilized to work together with our local companies to build a strong Long Island that can have a positive effect on our military and host countries that are looking to build political and economic stability and security. Real security begins in the grassroots with the kind of economic and political sanctuary provided by Small Business development.

Our country has had one business sector after another fail in recent months. Icons such as Lehman Brothers, AIG and General Motors have failed or are being nationalized. The government or the major companies are not looking after the Small Business person. Yet, when these large companies fail, many small companies fail as well. The government seems to pay attention to the large corporation. Is it because they have so many workers that are also voters that can make the difference between success and failure at the polls? 

What would happen if the Small Business person belonged to a large group that would be large enough to affect the outcome of an election? Do you think the government both local and federal would pay attention to the Small business person then? This is the right time for the Long Island Advancement of Small Business (ASB) so that the small business person can have a voice.