If It Ain’t Broke (any more, that is)…..

We finally got the politics out of the SBA lending about a year ago. But, if Senator Kerry has his way, we will take a very large step backwards to the era of government meddling in this program.
Did efforts to get politics out of the appropriations of SBA lending prove to be a failure? Not according to the facts. From Inc.com:

SBA spokesman Mike Stamler, pointing to the record levels of (7)a loans taken out in the last two years, said that such changes aren’t needed. In fiscal year 2005, the program gave out $14 billion in 88,912 loans. In the previous year, the SBA gave out less than $12 billion in 73,392 loans. “This year, without facing limitations that the appropriations would place in the program, the fees in place were modest, the same as they were three, four, five years ago, and we think the program should continue to operate as it is,” Stamler said.

The socialist-leaning element in congress just doesn’t like or trust free markets. They can’t imagine that the private sector can manage the process better than government, even when presented with facts to the contrary.