“Small businesses,” the president said last September, “produce most of the new jobs in this country. They are the anchors of our Main Streets. They are part of the promise of America, the idea that if you’ve got a dream and you’re willing to work hard, you can succeed.”
Unfortunately, as Jim Hoft reported earlier today, approximately 80% of those Main Street job creators aren’t hiring:
Almost two-thirds—64%—of small-business executives surveyed said they weren’t expecting to add to their payrolls in the next year and another 12% planned to cut jobs, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report to be released Monday. Just 19% said they would expand their work forces.
. . . .
The Small Business Administration says small businesses, defined as companies with fewer than 500 workers, employ about half of the workers in the private sector. In the Chamber’s survey of 1,409 executives, conducted by Harris Interactive, small businesses were defined as firms with revenue of $25 million or less.
More than half of the small-business executives in the June 27-30 survey cited economic uncertainty as the main reason for holding back on hiring. About a third blamed lack of sales, while just 7% pointed to problems getting credit.
Emphasis added. Economic uncertainty? Sounds like something law professor Stephen L. Carter learned when chatting with a businessman on a recent flight. Instead of faulting Republicans for refusing to agree to a new stimulus, the president would do well to ask his agency heads to develop a friendlier attitude toward those he has identified as job creators and a less capricious attitude toward regulations on their activity.
Clearly, Small Business is disloyal to the Dear Leader… which will justify Him in turning on Small Business. Say, by trying to tax the crap out of them.
The Great Recession is over? Tell that to most small business owners like myself.
Construction and manufacturing have stagnated, service-sector growth is practically non-existent…and we look forwards and see guaranteed higher business and personal tax burdens, government mandates and absolutely no bank-credit availability. The empty store-fronts aren’t being filled with new businesses, the office space market is glutted…and the banks won’t even talk to us.
On the personal-front, I’ve cut-back to the bone and more. I’m even giving-up my professional office space and moving my practice to the enclosed porch of my home next month. I just don’t dare spend the money. No more paid-seminars, no more overnight business trips, I keeping the existing car a few more years (Gods willing) when otherwise I would have replaced it.
Pres. Obama can claim the Economy is recovering, but everyone here is in survival-mode. And that he can’t blame on Bush.