Bloomberg's Small Business Irony

On Tuesday NY 1 had a report on Mayor Bloomberg's latest small business initiative. Presented by the mayor in all seriousness, the effort, labeled "NYC Small Business Solutions", would help the city's small firms "get permits and licenses they need."

The purpose of the program is to, "make it easier for people to start a business in the city." The irony of course is that for the last four years the mayor's anti-small business policies have made it exceedingly difficult for these same businesses to actually stay in business. Foreclosures and bankruptcies are at an all time high in New York and the mayor's tax and regulatory policies have exacerbated the post-9/11 trend.

The key point here is that if this administration is serious about a business sector that, according to the mayor, "employs half the private sector's workforce and accounts for 98% of all business in the city" then it needs to cease and desist its anti-small business agenda. This would mean, however, that the mayor would have to lower taxes and end the scorched earth enforcement policy that has characterized his first four years. All else is hypocritical cosmetics.