Can You Benefit from Home Grown Economic Stimulus Packages?

The WSJ recently published an article on home-grown economic-stimulus programs that cities, counties, and states are providing to help small businesses stay afloat and spur local spending during the recession.

Usually local plans – aka “economic gardening” – work better than shotgun big government plans.

Here are some plans the Wall Street Journal discussed…

Are you joining with other entrepreneurs in your locality to work together to build your local economy? Mostly these are appropriate for small business, but “microbusiness” (your home business) is a new and growing category of concern for “in the know” economic developers.

Here’s an interesting example even small businesses could benefit from…

In Lancaster, Calif., for instance, where the unemployment rate has hit 15.2%, the City Council voted to take $500,000 from a reserve fund to try to spark consumer spending. Anyone who spends $300 at local businesses will get a $30 gift card from the city.

Lancaster is also covering vehicle-registration fees for anyone who buys a new car or motorcycle in town. Already, the local auto mall has sold 60 cars under that program, including one to a customer who drove out from Beverly Hills just to shop in Lancaster. “It’s pretty depressed around here,” says Steve Gocke, the project coordinator. “This is a psychological boost.”

HT: GrowingLocalEconomies.com