On the same day that the CEOs of more than 80 major U.S. corporations pushed for a federal-deficit-reduction plan that would rely on lower tax rates but a "broader base," a poll revealed that a majority of small business owners believe that those CEOs should pay higher taxes.

The Wall Street Journal broke the news this morning that the big business CEOs issued a "manifesto" urging Congress to immediately pursue gradual "pro-growth tax reform." Their 225-word statement petitioned for a comprehensive plan that, among other measures, "broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues and reduces the deficit." The CEOs pointed to the recommendations of the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles Commission, which calls for a combination of budget cuts and increased tax revenue, as an "effective framework for such a plan."

The statement urged bipartisan action and reforms to all areas of the Federal budget, and seemed to suggest that neither Presidential candidate's tax plan goes far enough. But the CEOs'

We are heading into the last few days prior to the election and the choices are coming in to focus as we get the details of the different campaigns' specifics - especially with regard to small business. Or are they?

Unlike the political rhetoric, you CAN get some concrete small business advice right here on Yahoo! Small Business Advisor. We have a new writer, Patricia Lotich, on board and she started with a great piece about emergency planning for small businesses. You'll see some more new writers starting over the next couple of weeks. Please let us know what topics you'd like to see covered in the comments below.

Some of the other best stories for today:

Leadership experience helps female veteran small business owners.

Top 5 tax mistakes small businesses make.

How to avoid small business ownership burnout.

The last of four women's small business webinars from the SBA is tomorrow - and find out about watching the archived ones...

Two great tips for small ecommerce businesses.

Brought

Monday's Presidential Debate in Boca Raton, Fla., marked the last chance for President Obama and Governor Romney to go head-to-head on whose policies would better support small business. The evening's theme was foreign policy, but there was plenty of discussion of domestic policies, as well as of how each candidate's approach to foreign relations would influence U.S. businesses, jobs, and trade.

And yet, small business owners were left after this debate with as little concrete information as they were by the previous three about how either candidate's policies might improve their prospects, increase their access to capital, or encourage and support entrepreneurship and the increasing numbers of self-employed Americans.

The candidates got in their first small business quips in response to Bob Schieffer's question, "What do each of you see as America's role in the world?"

Obama charged Romney with having proposed "wrong and wreckless policies" at home and abroad. Romney took the

Small businesses are often more vulnerable than large in the event of a disaster or unforeseen emergency. This is because many small business owners don't invest the time in planning for the unexpected. When disaster strikes, they're caught off-guard and faced with the challenge of putting the pieces back together during a time of extreme stress and chaos. Planning for the unexpected emergency is a smart business strategy.

An emergency can be one of many things: a building fire (just watch the news), a natural disaster (think hurricane Katrina), a terrorist attack (think 9/11) or an armed intruder (think Columbine). Each of these scenarios is very different, but a recovery plan stems from the same basic planning process.

Most emergencies happen without much warning, which makes planning imperative. Think about running your operation without a facility, computer network, phone system or key personnel. When there's an emergency, it's critical to have a plan that can quickly be put into

Closing Shop: We Hope Not

We had an interesting week with some minor fallout from the second presidential debate that once again failed to address small business in any real and lasting way but played a great deal of lip service. There was also a strong theme in the news this week about the changes Facebook has made to the way business pages operate - and specifically how they are aggressively moving to charge businesses for putting their status updates in front of their own followers. It's Facebook's platform to do what it wants with but I fear that int he long run Facebook's position as the top social media and marketing solution for small business may be damaged.

We also looked at what extraordinary bosses have in common, some great credit card perks and also gave a tip of our hat to a possible new trend - insourcing. And next week look to see some new writers covering bookkeeping and general business operations.

If you haven't taken the plunge yet, hopefully some of these articles give you the impetus to

When you make purchases on your credit card, you're automatically eligible for secret perks that almost nobody knows about.

I'm not talking about the standard "cash back" or "frequent-flier miles" perks, which are great.

These are hidden perks that can easily be worth over $1,000 per year to you.

I got sick of credit card companies taking advantage of readers on my blog, so I wanted to figure out how to take advantage of every perk they offered. I spent almost two years studying these perks and testing them to figure out which were worth using. For example, did you know:

• If you buy something and it gets stolen or broken in the first 90 days, your credit card will write you a $1,000 check?

• You get an automatic extended warranty up to 1 year, which means no need to waste money buying extended warranties?

• Your credit card may offer a "concierge" service that can get you hard-to-find tickets...for no additional charge?

Small business owners fear what comes after the election

Despite both presidential candidates' promises to cut taxes for small businesses, reports today on a new survey of small business owners say a vast majority of them believe the reverse will happen. More than three-fourths believe their taxes will go up next year, according to a survey from The Hartford. USA Today reports:

Both candidates have said that if their opponent wins they will mess it up for small businesses. Are those the negative messages that owners are taking home?

The Hartford's study, which surveyed more than 2,000 small-business owners, shows they are hanging on to every word the candidates say on small-business policy. About 83% of them say they'll be thinking about it when they cast their votes.

"All they're hearing is how one side is going to screw it up and how the other side is going to screw it up," says Garrett Sutton, author of Run Your Own Corporation. "That has an effect with business owners. They're sitting on their hands waiting to see what's going to