SmallBizResource Blog -- Economy

Small Businesses Weigh In On Stimulus Package

Posted by Gayle Kesten Monday, Mar 2, 2009, 11:18 AM ET

What do microbusinesses really think about President Obama's stimulus package?

MerchantCircle, a social network of 600,000-plus U.S. local business owners, polled its members to gauge their approval. As it turns out, their collective opinion is a lot less glowing than the Small Business Administration's, and also reflects what Dawn Rivers Baker, editor of The MicroEnterprise Journal, told me earlier this month: that few microbusinesses follow what happens on Capitol Hill. "I find all of this political theatre entertaining, but most microbusinesses don't want all of these details. They want to know specifically what's going to impact their businesses," she said.

In all, nearly 11,000 people representing all 50 states participated in MerchantCircle's e-mail survey, which is short on details but reveals an overall sense of, well, pessimism. The majority of respondents operate businesses with five or fewer employees and rely on their companies as their main source of income.

Among the findings:

• 52% of respondents don't approve of the stimulus package, as opposed to the 22% that do. The remainder (27%) said they don't know enough about the plan to have an opinion.

• 66% of respondents don't think the stimulus bill goes far enough for small-business owners, while only 3% do. That leaves nearly one-third of all respondents in the "I don't know enough about it" category.

• Approval vs. disapproval about the way Obama is handling his job as president was almost evenly split (35% to 36%, respectively), but the same question regarding Congress revealed two-thirds of respondents not happy and just 10% with their thumbs up.

Respondents were also asked to rate the importance of the issues addressed in the stimulus bill. The emerging top five:

1. Job creation (53%)
2. Business breaks (45%)
3. Tax breaks (41%)
4. Health care (28%)
5. Infrastructure development (28%)

As for their own businesses, more than two-thirds of respondents reported the "health" of their businesses to be average or unhealthy -- 12% reported being in danger of closing -- and nearly three-quarters said their sales and revenue are in a moderate to severe decline.

Plenty of commentary follow the survey's findings, and they're worth a look. My favorite line comes from someone hawking a get-rich-quick DVD, but regardless: "The budget to support my business would not be described as a shoestring ... it's as thin as dental floss!"

How's business for you? Do you agree with MerchantCircle's findings? How much policy attention do you pay?

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