New AMI research shows that President Obama and Congress may not be doing the best job of soothing SMBs’ concerns over the economy. US SMBs are showing a little optimism in the new year, with a lot of apprehension.
As a recent AMI report shows, US SBs who felt the government was responding very well to the economic crisis went from 39% in the third quarter to a paltry 24% in the fourth. MBs tell an even more dramatic story. In the MB sphere the number went from 47% to 21%.
This is problematic for a president struggling to sooth worries of SMBs, who are the backbone of the economy. President Obama went on 60 Minutes in early December partly to boost his jobs program and tax breaks for small businesses. (You can watch that appearance here.)
Do these numbers mean that with his clutch of other crises, including a push for healthcare reform and a redoubled terror panic, the president is failing to take his message to SMBs? A few more numbers suggest it could.
US SBs unaware of any stimulus money due to them, as a result of the Economic Recovery Act, jumped from 52% in the third quarter to a whopping 70% in the fourth. Among MBs, it went from 62% to 69%.
These and other numbers come from AMI’s ongoing US Quarterly Pulse. You can take a look at that here.
In a few days, we’ll look at the same survey questions posed to Germany, the UK and France.
1 response so far ↓
1 forex // Jan 27, 2010 at 4:09 PM
19 months into recession and it seems to me that we’re still light years from recovery. Granted, Bernanke and the big boys are saying the economy is getting better but it sure doesn’t feel that way on main street.
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