Report Reviews Third Quarter Small Biz Economy
Nov 10th, 2008 | By Dawn Rivers Baker | Category: Economy“The U.S. economy experienced weaknesses in the third quarter, as real gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent.” Thus begins the SBA Office of Advocacy’s quarterly economic report, didactically entitled Third Quarter 2008: The Economy and Small Business. This was not among the most aesthetically pleasing of these reports; the red ink flowed liberally with news that is already depressingly familiar. Unemployment is up, consumer spending is down, inflation is up, lending is down, and the third quarter of this year lives in infamy as the first contraction of the real gross domestic product since 2002.
Not all the news was bad – there was employment growth in a few sectors and oil prices have cratered so gas prices are down. Microbusiness owners, however, are likely to experience a lot more pain during this recession than they did during the last one, because finding customers with money they are willing to part with will be no easy feat. About the best money to be made right now will be selling to the government and the paperwork involved won’t be easy for a microbusiness owner to deal with. Best news for survival may be the simple fact that microbusinesses tend to be inexpensive to operate.
