Small Business Has A Message For You.

If you have been reading here, you know that small businesses drive the U.S. economy.  This is the message that California small businesses are sending you.

 

California’s economy may be recovering slowly. But you wouldn’t know it from small business owners.
Small Business California, a nonprofit organization, spoke to nearly 1,200 executives across the state and found that only 20 percent of them feel the state is headed toward prosperity.
Almost two-thirds said we’re going in the wrong direction.
And many businesses are have been putting their pessimism into practice.
Only 14 percent hired new workers in the past year, and less than a third plan to take on new employees over the next six months.
Two thirds said they didn't take out any new loans in 2011 for the purpose of expanding their business.
But it’s not all gloom and doom: 41 percent do think the business climate will get better over the next few years.
And nearly 4 out of 5 said they believed their business would still be around in three years.

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  Small Business

  The problem here is that they are asking the wrong questions. The fact is that only the strongest, and best positioned businesses are still in business. Over half of all my competitors have went out of business in the last 4 years. We are not taking out loans because they are not available, not because we don't need them. The big banks like Bank of America are actively calling in all the credit lines and loans for small businesses, not offering new ones. 41 percent think the business climate will improve over the next few years? That means 59% think it won't. And finally, the last sentence tells you that 20% of all the businesses questioned feel they will not be around much longer.
  In response to this financial crisis, what do our local officials focus on? Making it easier to be in this country illegally, same sex marriage, raising taxes on anyone with a job, and anything else that will shore up their voter base...amazing.