Biden’s Order Targeting Big Businesses Gets Local Support

Photo by Gage Skidmore

HYANNIS – In light of President Joe Biden’s recent executive order targeting anti-competitive practices in big industries like tech and healthcare, local business advocacy group Love Live Local is highlighting the importance of the region’s small businesses.

“Local retailers and restaurants reinvest two to four times the amount of money into our local economy than a national chain,” said Love Live Local CEO Amanda Converse. 

Biden said that the order will bring changes to the nationwide economy that will help protect both workers’ wages and consumers. 

It also looks to put limits on large companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook.

“We’re really pleased to see that happening at the national level. We definitely encourage our local governments to take a look at how they are treating small businesses as opposed to corporations, and how they are supporting them,” said Converse.

“[We] ask them to look at their policies and say ‘oh wait, small businesses aren’t playing on a level playing field with corporations, how can we help them.’”

Converse said that the backbone of the Cape’s economy is small businesses, something she thinks some residents may take for granted, including herself when she first entered the industry. 

According to Converse, about 95 percent of Cape businesses have less than 50 employees. 

She said the COVID-19 pandemic put a lot of stress on these smaller businesses, causing some to close down permanently and putting others on financial life support even as recovery efforts continue.

“I think this past year gave everyone a bit of a scare,” said Converse.

“We could lose these businesses. I think we as a region performed really, really well in trying to get our businesses through this. I think what we need to make sure is we don’t lose sight of that as we move forward. It’s not just during a crisis that our small businesses need our support. It’s all the time.”

About Grady Culhane

Grady Culhane is a Cape Cod native from Eastham. He studied media communications at Cape Cod Community College and joined the CapeCod.com News Center in 2019.



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