Tipsheet

With Obama Leaving, Small Business Owners' Optimism Highest In Eight Years

President Obama is leaving on January 20, and that has small business owners’ optimism has hit its highest point in eight years. After Obamacare has driven up health care costs for employees, reduced worker hours, and even led to layoffs—the era of Trump is about to begin. And that means the backbone of Americas workforce is upbeat. Gallup conducted the survey:

Overall, small-business owners are significantly more positive than negative about the prospect of the newly elected president and Congress. One-half (51%) of small-business owners think the actions of the new president and Congress will make their company better off, while 17% expect to be worse off and 26% feel the upcoming actions in Washington will have no impact on their business. Similarly, 61% of small-business owners believe the new president will focus on issues important to them as owners, while one-third predict he will not.

[…]

The importance of tax relief for small-business owners is also apparent in the responses to a question that asked owners to rate the importance of a list of issues the new president and Congress could tackle. More than eight in 10 small-business owners reported that actions relating to changes in the tax code will be extremely or very important. Seventy-six percent of small-business owners also saw actions relating to healthcare and the current healthcare law as extremely or very important.

[…]

Small-business owners have become substantially more positive after the November election, returning to a level of optimism not seen since early 2008, although still not at the levels of optimism recorded in 2007 and earlier. The majority of owners believe the new president and Congress will focus on issues of importance to small businesses. Owners are particularly interested in having the nation's leaders address taxes, healthcare and regulations.

With Trump striking a deal with Carrier to keep almost 1,000 jobs in the U.S., along with the SoftBank deal that saw a $50 billion investment in the country with a projected 50,000 jobs created in the process. Two big wins under Trump’s belt and he’s not even president yet. I would be more optimistic too.