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The article looks at the growing capacity of small businesses in the U.S. to define their needs and lobby for national economic policies and reforms. It cites the groups under which the 15 major legislative objectives agreed at the White House Conference on Small Business for 1981-1982 fall. They include capital formation, giving consideration to the small-business economy in formulating U.S. economic policy, and bringing minorities and women into the mainstream of the small business economy.

The authors offer opinions on the government securities known as municipal bonds and public finance by U.S. state and local governments. A threat to the security of municipal bonds is seen in the financial problems of pension trusts for government employees in many jurisdictions. A series of proposals are made to alleviate that problem including more disclosure of public pension trust finances and forbidding pension trusts to increase benefits without fully funding them.