A new Fortune Small Business/Zogby Poll has found that a little less than half of small business owners say that they have been affected by the recession. What is really remarkable to me about these results is that if you listen to the media, every business in the US is on the brink of disaster.
The fact that 57% have not been damaged gives us hope that the entrepreneurial engine we need to pull us out of the recession is ready to grow when the time is right. This fits with what I am hearing from entrepreneurs.
Here is a summary of this poll:
- 43% of small business owners say their businesses have been damaged by the recession
- 22% say they have cut the price of products or services
- 17% say they have downsized through layoffs or attrition
- 14% say they have cut salaries
- 27% say their businesses lost money in 2008; 22% say they broke even
- 45% say they would still choose to start a company if they were entering the workforce during the recession
Well, I guess this is the so called “trickling” down economy — of an amoral or immoral Capitalism — where the rich got rich first and then, they will have some minor spill over — to the rest.
The sleazy of this “immoral American capitalism ” had its run for over 30 plus years. War by profit by the cronies of the last administration — and while Wall Street whores cooking up deals and numbers — White House, Pentagon and other cronies, or Neocons? and more were cooking up wars with no bid contract….
I guess from this point onward — every missile, every drone that is about to be fired or sent to the “false enemies” , they better be able to factoring in all of the cost — and yes, China, Korea and Japan are the debt holders of the American bonds..
Maybe only then, the American public and the American middle class — when they are no longer being ignored by the “money makers” or deal cookers of Wall Street, by investment bankers and evey by the housing folks like Fannie Mae and Freedie Mac who all have made exorbitant earnings, by the inflation of numbers — who had the public and stock holders all literally raped … and ran . That even goes for Bob Rubins and comapny — 🙂 Sad day for most Americans and the middle class now all are holding their empty bags.
I agree entirely and have been saying for ages that “recession” is a time of opportunity for those able to weather it. SMEs are the future and it is mainly smaller (and more flexible) firms that are still doing ok (or even better).
I think the pessimism stems from the larger firms who to some degree are wrapped up in the hedge fund / futures / short-selling world and the arrogance is to assume that all of commerce is the same as them. Perhaps they merely wish to hide their shame!
Here in the UK things fell apart back in September 2008 – I run a small translation business and in September everything just stopped. I’ve never seen anything like it – one day things were more or less normal then almost overnight nobody wanted translations any more. It still hasn’t picked up 6 months later. I guess that would make me one of the 43% but I also suspect the 43% should be much higher, – small businesses don’t like to admit that business is bad, as I know when talking to other translators, they never tell the truth !
As already mentioned, some of the results may be a bit skewed due to business owners not wanting to admit they are performing worse than they report. However, it is also in the nature of the media to report news worthy stories. Unfortunately, that means news media outlets focus on more negative than positive issues. Another reason is it’s the unhappy whose voice is more likely to be heard. Happy people are usually not the ones out there voicing how happy and how good things are for them. In reality, most of us know someone who is currently struggling or had to close their business. However, it’s also likely that we know more people who are making it through the recession than those who are not and these numbers do reflect that.