The Mom and Pop Shop's Gritty View of Government

Small business owners in the United States are overwhelmingly disillusioned and dissatisfied with the federal government, according to a recent press release from American Management Systems, a 21-year-old organization that provides turnaround services and profitability guidance to more than 6,000 small- to medium-sized business across 400 industries.

The clear-cut results of the survey, conducted this year from June 23 to July 3, certainly aren't sunny or optimistic. In fact, the opinions of small business owners are rather bleak in regards to the US economy and government.

• 86% say the federal government is doing "little to nothing" to help small businesses
• 81% believe the United States is in an economic recession
• 50% believe the US economy will get worse before it rebounds
  
• 78% say the economic stimulus checks did nothing to help their businesses
• 72% believe that the government is bailing out big businesses on Wall Street

"Our country's 23 million small business owners are disappointed with the lack of actions on their behalf. While Wall Street and big businesses get bailed out, small businesses receive no assistance in these difficult times," says George Cloutier, founder and CEO of American Management Systems. "Tens of thousands of small businesses will fail this year due to government inaction. They create 60% of the nation's jobs; the small business industry is clearly an economic engine and it's stalling. It's time to get it re-started."

When the survey tiptoed into our volatile political landscape, 80% of respondents admitted to having no idea what Senators Barack Obama's and John McCain's platforms are pertaining to small business. Yet, 38% of small business owners favor McCain over Obama, who attracted 21% while 32% remained undecided. Perhaps coinciding with the preference to McCain, 77% of respondents believe the government should tap into restricted oil reserves in Alaska and off the coasts of California and Florida.

Of the 400 people who took part in the poll, 37% identified themselves as Independents, 33% as Republicans, and 22% of Democrats.