Economic and political uncertainty mainly...
Healthcare and it's associated tax and reporting burdens for small businesses, including reporting a 1099 for every vendor, store, utility, etc .
Upcoming cap and trade legislation that won't die until it's passed, so you could be looking at anrabroad
her extra tax burden through that legislation if passed. This can affect all costs of doing business, from your utility bills, all the way to your internet hosting bill if you run a website for the meat of your business or just advertising, considering the massive amount of electricity datacenters use and their associated running costs that will skyrocket. They won't eat it, costs across the board will go up.
The new financial reform law that makes accessing credit harder for small businesses, and eliminates many of the markets and products that small businesses and farmers relied upon for capital.
A large unmrabroad
ivated, unemployed workforce given access to an unlimited amount of tax money for an indefinite amount of time. This money is coming from somewhere, and it isn't those on welfare or unemployment.
An overbearing federal government running up an incalculable deficit, centralizing power, over extending regulation, and eating up money that could be used by small businesses themselves. The only sectors of our economy Nrabroad
shedding jobs has been collections and the government.
A generally unfriendly and hostile business tone from the federal government (Unless you are already large, have access to tons of money, and lobby heavily ).
I know you don't value my opinion because you think I'm just an artist, but I run my own business as well for the meat of my income, and the environment to work within over the last two years, while it wasn't stellar before, has become downright hellish at this point. I'm saving every penny at this point, and myself, like most businesses my size, operates on a very small profit margin, with nrabroad
much of a window at this point if things get out of control. With the rollercoaster ride it's been the last couple of years, I don't know what ground I'll be standing on in a year, if it'll even be there anymore.
The quickest way to tear the guts out of small businesses is to create an uncertain business environment, and then eliminate as many tools as possible to keeping them alive. That's where we are at.