If the economy is so good, why do small business leaders feel so bad?
The latest Small Business Optimism Index from the National Federation of Independent Business could hardly be more depressing.
The survey finds that the men and women who run our 33 million small businesses and hire more than half of American workers are in a somber mood. It also finds that small-business confidence has reached its lowest point in 12 years.
Amazingly, CEOs of small companies are even more fearful of the future today than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most businesses were shuttered.
The confidence numbers have decreased every year President Joe Biden has been in office. Here are the numbers, according to the National Federation of Independent Business:
March 2020—102.0
March 2021—98.2
March 2022—93.2
March 2023—90.1
March…
