Small Businesses on the Economy, Politics and Policy

On August 28, the latest Discover Small Business Watch survey results were released.

On the economy, small business owners’ views improved a bit on the economy, but were still pretty darn grim. For example, while 60 percent said they thought the economy was getting worse, that compared to 71 percent the previous month. In addition, 51 percent ranked the economy as poor, which was down from 54 percent in July.

Another important question for the economy is whether small businesses will “increase or decrease spending on business development activities such as advertising, inventories, and capital expenditures” over the coming six months? The response: 40% said decrease, 28% increase, 26% no change, with 6% not sure.

Overall, not exactly a rosy picture.

The August survey also dealt with small business owners’ takes on politics and policy. Consider the following:

• 43 percent cited the economy as the most important issue, with national security running a very distant second at 11 percent. That’s not surprising.

• “Only about one quarter of all small business owners have donated time or money to a candidate this year. And 75 percent said they would never consider running for office.” That’s disappointing. We could use more business owners, and fewer lawyers and lifetime politicians serving in elected office.

• “Fifty-three percent of small business owners do not believe the 2008 election has provided a forum for small business owners to be heard by the candidates while 33 percent said they weren’t sure. Only 14 percent believe small business issues are being heard on the campaign trail.” Even though politicians usually say nice things about small business, most small business owners apparently are not too pleased with how small business issues are addressed on the campaign trail. Given the vast number of small business owners and their importance to the economy, this is an obvious and important opportunity for those seeking office.

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council