Small Business Going Forward
It is admittedly difficult to make sweeping pronouncements about the future of small business in the United States. The prospects for a one-location retail video store versus a 90-person telemedicine delivery company are obviously not the same. However, there are a few macro changes afoot that will affect us all in some way.
I recently attended a U.S. Chamber of Commerce small business summit. Hundreds of small business owners, policy-makers, and politicians assembled to share information about the current state of small business in America. In a general session, a series of questions were asked of all attendees. These attendees punched answers into a keypad, and results of the questions posed were displayed on a giant screen in real time. The questions were topical, and the results were both interesting and surprising. The last question of the day, however, re-ally spoke volumes: “What do you think should be the most important policy priority for small business?”
I’ve seen this question, or questions like it, asked of small business owners many times over the years. Not too long ago, the results would have been pretty spread out among a number of different issues, with tax and regulation burdens, access to capital, and tort reform leading the list. This time that didn’t happen. Of the eight multiple-choice options given as possible answers, “reducing health care costs” was the answer for 68 percent of the attendees—over two-thirds! (In contrast, the combination of tax and regulatory burdens was only 6 percent.) In that answer lie the answer to a bigger question, “What is the future of small business in America?”
