Online Forum on Small Business: President Obama on Loans

February 23, 2011 | 2:44 | Public Domain

President Obama joins Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee to answer your questions from WhiteHouse.gov as he participates in the Winning the Future Forum on Small Business in Cleveland, OH. In this segment, the President responds to a question from James in Addison, Texas: “With the virtual death of local banking, it's next to impossible today to get bank loans for anything other than fixed assets. For working capital, speculative funding, for others, entrepreneurs must look to save capital, family, friends, or even a first customer. Traditional financing sources only help the more traditional forms of business. Innovators must look elsewhere. We're locked in this and we were wondering what your view is.”