How does the Obama administration really feel about small businesses? This is a good question, especially since the recent State of the Union address mentioned “small businesses” fourteen times. Is it lip service or the real thing? Better yet, does this mean small businesses will finally begin receiving loans or lines of credit? Since talk is proverbially cheap in Washington, let’s look at Obama’s actual initiative in detail to answer this question.As you have probably heard, up to $30 billion of TARP monies that have recently been repaid by the big banks is used to fund the program. It is not “live” yet–it must be enacted into law by Congress and must pass muster through its various subcommittees. Here is a summary of its major provisions:1. It is a separate program distinct from TARP. TRANSLATION: This is an attempt to distance it from the bad press of the TARP program.2. Money will be invested in community banks having assets less than 10 billion. Banks with assets less than 1 billion will be able to loan up to 5% of their risk weighted assets. Banks with assets between 1 and 10 billion can use up to 3%. There are approximately 8,000 community banks. TRANSLATION: the big boys like Bank of America, Wells Farg3. Loan guarantees with the SBA will remain at 90%. The SBA doesn’t make loans unless you are in a disaster zone (FEMA Loans). They guarantee the losses suffered by private banks in making these loans, which in turn gives those banks more incentive to lend. TRANSLATION: We want our local small business bankers to feel warm and fuzzy when they make the loan. And hopefully a lot of them.4. Eliminating SBA guarantee fees. When you get an SBA loan you have to pay a fee at closing which goes to Washington and helps defray losses from the banks. It can be expensive, especially for larger loans. TRANSLATION: Aren’t we all tired of paying excessive closing costs and fees?5. Big banks, don’t bother applying. It doesn’t take a NASA rocket scientist to know most of the lending is done by small community banks. Only they can participate. TRANSLATION: Although community banks make up only 20% of all bank assets, they account for over 50% of all small business loans.Fortunately there is a loan program out there and SBA lenders are actually making loans currently: the Community Express Loan Program. This gives unsecured small business loans between $5,000 and $50,000 with very little paperwork, answers typically in two days, interest rates presently at 7.75%, funding and two weeks, and monies wired directly to your business account. And, there are lenders participating in this program currently.The point: why wait for the trickle down effect to occur within the next year so when you can go to banks right now who are actually participating in the community express program?