Welcome back to GGM News and Advice’s Monday News Roundup, where we scour the internet to find news articles and blog posts that are important to small business, sum them up, and then give them our own spin!

Another week come and gone – man, they seem to fly fast sometimes, don’t they? And what an interesting week it’s been. The white house, reeling from last Tuesday’s election of Republican Scott Brown (R-Mass), seems to be making a push to make job growth and the economy their flagship issue, instead of healthcare, and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has found himself embattled, with dire questions looming over the possibility of his upcoming reconfirmation.

All this and more, after the break!

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Pelosi: “In its present form, without any changes, I don’t think it’s possible to pass the Senate bill in the House, I don’t see the votes for it at this time.”

Editor-in-Chief Carter Schimpff

Although many small businesses are clamoring for some sort of health reform – be it enacting the ability to buy insurance across state lines, increasing competition and reducing costs, or developing strong tort reforms – it now appears that the bloated “health reform” bill, different versions of which were passed by the house and the senate, is indefinitely stalled.

To continue, the House and the Senate must reconcile the differences between the two versions of the bill that each passed. And with the election of Senator Brown (R-Mass), the senate no longer has a so-called “supermajority” to filibuster proof their vote on a reconciled bill.

One other option is for Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal) and her House of Representatives to pass the Senate’s version of the bill sight unseen — but she has now admitted that she lacks the support within her own house of congress to pass the bill as is.

Both versions of the bill have been under fire for being bloated, overbearing, and have been supported by smoke-filled back room deals — the most egregious examples being the “Louisiana Purchase” and Ben Nelson’s (D-Neb) “Cornhusker Kickback”. Small businesses across the nation decried the bills, believing that they would cause undue fiscal stress to their already critical bottom lines.

Carter Schimpff is the Editor-in-Chief of GGM News and Advice and is a regular contributor. Responses to his articles can be left in the comments section below. All comments are moderated for spam, but comments contrary to the viewpoints of GGM articles are never censored.

This week’s “Friday Funny” covers the administrations controversial proposals to further regulate and restrict bank activities, crafted by former Federal Reserve official Paul Volcker. For more in-depth coverage on the “Volcker Plan”, view our article.

Every Friday, GGM News and Advice brings you something to lighten the end of your week – Friday Funnies! Check back every Friday for a new comic and fresh laughs.

There's no need to feel like this!

I’m sure you’ve heard of twitter. No, actually, if you’re reading this article, I’ll guarantee that you’ve heard of twitter!

But, have you heard of “tweeple”? “Twitterati”? “Twitterhea”?

If not, never fear. Follow GGM’s carefully honed six-step process, and you’ll never have to figure out why you should cringe at the word “Twitterhea”.

More after the break!

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URGENT: Obama proposes “Volcker” plan to reign in banking industry

Breaking Now:

+ Includes size and complexity limits on proprietary trading by commercial banks
+ New rules, regulation, and oversight to decrease pass-through risk to customers and shareholders
+ Return to Glass-Steagall style separation of commercial and investment banks
+ “Banks no longer allowed to own and run hedge funds for their own profit”

What’s Missing?

Yes, Wall Street is corrupt and greedy. Yes, some mortgage brokers were and are corrupt and greedy. Should those two industrys be reformed? Almost certainly.

But what’s missing from this equation? How about the third leg of the stool that collapsed out from under us: Government. A major part of the housing crisis was played through grossly negligent and sometimes almost criminal lending done on the part of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – at the behest of the United States executive and legislative branches during their push to ensure 100% home ownership across the nation. [Source: http://bit.ly/5tCdQC]

OF NOTE: It should be noted that, as yet, 100% of the above exists only in the form of proposed legislation not yet passed completely by either the House or the Senate.

This post is currently being edited. Updates throughout the day as information comes through.

Welcome back to GGM’s weekly Wednesday article: Scotch and Cigars! Scotch and Cigars is a weekly segment answering reader questions about everything business-related. Look for it every Wednesday afternoon here at GGM.

If you have questions that you’d like answered by our panel of experts, simply submit it to the comments section below.

Your questions answered after the break!

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