[ by Melanie Gretchen]

Wall Street can expect to steer clear of mandatory federal spending cuts set to take effect Friday.  The budget cuts, called sequestration, will affect domestic programs, including military spending, aviation, and education programs for low-income families.  Private companies, however, can count on large cash reserves and a variety of resources.

"Larger companies have economies of scale these days.  They have cash reserves, better access to credit markets.  They tend to have more of a multinational presence." -- Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorites and former chief economic adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden.

Ironically, the government's pledge to hold larger banks accountable has hit Main Street hardest, according to Fred Deluca, the founder of privately held Subway restaurants.  On Wednesday, he told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that the government is simply out of touch with small-business owners. 

"It's continuously gotten worse because there's more and more regulation. And it's tough for people to get into business, especially small business.  If I started Subway today, Subway would not exist."

The upside of that coin is that not everyone is having a hard time, according to Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist of the National Federation of Independent Business.

"If small businesses were publicly traded companies, the stock market would be in shambles."

For further details, go to [CNBC, 2/28/13].