By Douglas Blair | The Daily Signal
A new poll released by the Job Creators Network Foundation finds that more than 2 out of 3 small businesses feel negatively about the economy and that nearly 3 out of 4 of them will have to “significantly” raise their prices to offset rising inflation.
These disturbing findings come from the Job Creators Network Foundation’s June Small Business IQ Poll, which sampled 500 small-business owners between June 4 and 28.
According to the poll, inflation is top of mind for small-business owners, as 46% of respondents say it’s their first or second-biggest concern. At the beginning of the year, 40% noted it as a major problem.
While inflation ranked as a primary point of concern for small-business owners, high gas prices also registered as a major issue. Some 27% of respondents said that was their top or second-biggest concern, up 4 percentage points from last month, while not even registering as a concern a year ago.
Additionally, the Job Creators Network Foundation tracks something called the Small Business Intelligence Quotient, which measures a mixture of current and future conditions facing small businesses. The number tracks:
- Employer’s current business conditions.
- Condition of U.S. economy today.
- Current climate for small businesses.
- Direction of employer’s business over next three months.
- Employer’s plans for hiring over next three months.
- Direction of U.S. economy.
- Direction of climate for small businesses.
June’s quotient was 52.7, more than a full-point drop from last month’s 53.9 and a whopping 8 points lower than 60.9 the same time last year. June’s numbers represent a three-month decline and an all-time low.
The poll found that small-business owners don’t think the Biden administration is doing enough to combat inflation. Some 72% of respondents said President Joe Biden isn’t doing enough to deal with ballooning inflation rates, while just 12% said he is and 16% were unsure.
The president didn’t fare any better when it came to small-business owners’ assessment of his handling of the supply chain crisis. Again, 72% of respondents said the administration isn’t doing enough, while 16% think it is, for a net approval rating of minus-56 points.
The majority of small-business owners disagree with the administration’s push to eliminate domestic production of oil and natural gas. Fully 4 in 5—80%—said they support increasing domestic energy production, becoming energy independent, and reducing America’s reliance on foreign oil.
I have a problem with America’s Small Businesses.
Many are going to go under because they have done this to themselves.
Anyone here over 40 years old was raised understanding (and seeing this was true) that the customer is always right. I’m sorry to have to spell that out, but this is as true today as it ever was..
I cannot even tell you what we did for people that was over and above simply to help people, the efforts we made to make them happy, solve their problems.
We truly did care about our neighbors that was our customer base back then.
The person with the wallet IS The One that truly does run the show.
With no customers you have no business.
Sadly, a whole lot of people that own businesses don’t get this anymore and they’ll go down the drain and then say it’s all our fault that they failed.
I go out of my way and spend more money on products to support my local small businesses because I know how much we need these places.
I do not want to live in a place where all I have around me is big box stores that then control us.
However.
I am saddened to then see that that small businesses rarely have what we need anymore.
They deal with supply line issues and then don’t want to do the work to go find new suppliers.
It’s all out there, but it might take some time to put a new system together, they don’t want to put in the effort to reinvent their wheel.. so we, that spent the time and gas money driving to their store to help them, we leave with nothing and not as happy customers.
It’s called laziness, it’s called a poor work ethic, and it’s called not really caring about your business or your people -or this wouldn’t be going on.
Businesses are now short staffed and we are being treated the worst I have ever been treated in my life in a place of business.
I waited for over 40 minutes at a deli the other day for two cheeseburgers.
I could have bought the hamburger and gone home and made them myself faster.
Then no apologies, just zero concern or respect for our time or our lousy experience- that we paid a lot for.
I worked in places like this and if ever we did that to someone, we’d have died of embarrassment and given them their food for free and hoped they’d forgive us for our failure.
This mentality is all gone today.. the rudeness that WE THE CUSTOMERS are treated with is off the charts.
So I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy anymore for small businesses that go under.
If the small business owners are going to live in fantasyland and conduct their businesses that way and not in the time tested ways that truly do work, then I have little sympathy for them.
The business owners around me that truly get all of this are doing very well.
And NO You are not a victim of yours fails.
It’s called learn how to conduct a business in the new fluid world that you voted for.
(Things could have been more stable and thus easier for business owners but they didn’t like the mean Tweets)