Given the meager recovery from the economic downturn, and the turbulence of the presidential election, is it any surprise that uncertainty plagues small business in this country?
There’s a new uncertainty index that measures how stuck small businesses in this country really feel.
The measurement comes from a monthly survey by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and it shows uncertainty is at a 42-year high.
That’s right. Small businesses’ visibility into the future is murkier than it’s been in over four decades.
So… what’s to blame?
It’s the wave of regulation from big government, Obamacare, the threat of higher taxes, the excessive bureaucracy that makes entrepreneurs reluctant to do anything to grow and innovate.
If a business owner can’t anticipate future events, how in the heck are they supposed to be able to make decisions about expanding into new markets, or opening new locations, or hiring?
And how are we supposed to get more Millennials to become entrepreneurs, to innovate, to create the future we all want, if we are constantly looking over our shoulders anxious for the next wave of regulations that will only make our lives harder?
It’s even more burdensome on Millennials because there are other uncertainty factors on young people that older generations don’t face.
Consider student debt, rising housing costs, and a feeling that everything is rigged.
The fact that a national business organization is measuring uncertainty is a sign, an alarm, that we need to get clear on how much—or how little—government we want involved in business.
Look… capitalism doesn’t work without a free market and big government is getting in the way.
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