Bad Credit Blues

The Recession Near the End of 2009

Here in November of 2009, we are seeing some good news as the stock market seems to be staking a shaky upwards trend.  But is the recession over? Is that the only sign we should look at? What about the jobless rate which has also been spiking up. Stock owners may be letting out a sigh of relief, but what about people who cannot find jobs?

Small Business Survey

MerchantCircle, a social network for small business owners, decided to survey membership to see what those people thought.  And remember, small business owners - not big corporations - create 2/3 of American jobs!

Almost half of the small business owners who responded do not believe the worst effects of the recession are over. Add to that almost a third who were not sure, and you only get about 23 percent who believe hard times are behind us.

While these results were gloomy, almost 3/4 believed that their own particular business would survive. and 20 percent were not sure. Only about 5 percent said they were sure they could not survive the lasting effects of the recession. Keep in mind that many businesses have already gone under so these numbers represent the plucky enterprises that have already hung on this long.

Health Reform and Small Business

As an aside, almost three quarters of these small business owners support a public health option, and believe more could be done to help them provide health plans for themselves and employees.