The health of small businesses will be one key to turning our economy around. President Barack Obama recently announced a $15 billion recovery plan with that goal in mind. The money is intended for loans to get business moving again, and hopefully stimulate the economy. But a new report suggests that for entrepreneurs in Chicago the cash may not be enough. Lawyers at the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship, based at the University of Chicago Law School, say that new business owners have to jump through all sorts of unnecessary state and city regulatory hoops. The report was issued through their Washington-based parent organization, the libertarian Institute for Justice. Beth Milnikel is an attorney, and the director of the Chicago clinic, and she says the clinic helps local entrepreneurs struggling to go by the book.

We also called the Chicago Department of Business Affairs for their response to the report, and they said they hadn’t had enough time to review it.