I saw this story on Business Insider and though it was interesting: “President Donald Trump revealed the members of his Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups on Tuesday, signaling his intention to move past the novel coronavirus pandemic and revitalize the US economy in the coming months.

“The list of advisers draws from 16 industries including agriculture, banking, energy, hospitality, retail, sports, and tech, as well as thought leaders.

"'These bipartisan groups of American leaders will work together with the White House to chart the path forward toward a future of unparalleled American prosperity,’ the White House said in a release.”

The names of that list include Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase; David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs; Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone; James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola; Chris Kempczinski, CEO of McDonald's; Mike Roman, CEO of 3M; Daniel O'Day, CEO of Gilead Sciences; Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands ; Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon; Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook; John Malone, CEO of Liberty Media; Adam Silver, NBA commissioner; Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner; Vince McMahon, CEO of WWE; Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots; Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks; Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state; and Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine.

As you can see there are some fellow billionaires on the list and quite a few who are political allies of the president – a fairly typical move for the president.

Coming up with a blue ribbon panel of “experts” to address a problem, is a common and time-honored style of window-dressing in this country. I think it was to be expected.

The problem is just what kind of solutions could these folks offer small business?

Let’s say you’re a farmer and you can’t get your products sold because schools are not in session and many restaurants are either doing a faction of their business with take-out or no business at all?

That’s happening right now.

So, Vince McMahon, how do you keep these farmers in business during this rough time? What do they do to recover? What do they need?

Or how about the small manufacturing concern, like a machine shop? They may have real issues with employees out sick. Where do they get substitute workers? What if they are producing items for other businesses that have scaled down?

Come on Tim Cook of Apple, what would be your solution? You’re familiar with manufacturing, just not in the country.

There are plenty of restaurants that will need help recapturing their business once the bans are lifted. Chris Kepczinski of McDonald’s is it in your best interest to help your competitors?

I think you catch my drift here.

I may be all wrong. Maybe every one of the people listed here is committed to actually helping small businesses, which indeed is the backbone of this nation. Do you think a group of white male billionaires is the right cavalry to send in? Will these guys even meet, much actually try to do something that just doesn’t help themselves?

Here’s an alternative approach: give each governor additional small business aid and bring in the mayors and the chair of select boards in each state to talk about the issues and how to address them. Different regions of each state have different issues. Make sure the small business sectors have a say.

The mayors of our communities know far better what is needed in their cities to assist small businesses.

Think about our region. Tourism is big. Higher education is huge. We’re a hub for precision manufacturing. Agriculture is also very important. What are the solutions we need?

Those solutions may be different in part than those for Boston or Worcester or the Cape communities.

This blue ribbon panel doesn’t have a single idea of what regions across the country need.

Here what they can do. Put together $50 billion from their small change – they can probably find it in their couches. Give each governor $1 billion expressly designated for grants to small businesses. Have a press event where they get their photos taken, give them a hearty handshake and send them on their way. Give them a medal or an award and have them get back to what they do best.

Let the people who actually know the struggle lead the charge.