Small biz owners 'depressed'

Small business owners aren't just wary of economic conditions. They're downright depressed.

That's according to the National Federation of Independent Business's monthly economic survey, which showed attitudes regarding the nation's business climate are down for the second month in a row.

Despite speculation that the economy could be improving, business owners remain skeptical that business conditions will improve in the next six months. The survey shows that more business owners are expecting the economy to deteriorate.

“Nineteen months of recession are wearing heavily on Main Street,” NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a statement. “And unfortunately, lawmakers in Washington are doing more to scare small business owners than to reassure them of an economic recovery.”

Small businesses are responsible for generating jobs and GDP production. But they're also facing a lot of uncertainty in the face of new tax proposals and other economic factors, according to the NFIB.

“It's not enough that small business produce half the private GDP, employ the bulk of the private sector workforce and generate most of the new jobs created," Dunkelberg said. "Now they are expected to finance the new experiments of Congress and the president such as health care reform, auto industry bailouts and union pension fund bailouts."

The survey included a few other choice tidbits. Only 5 percent of small business owners think this is a good time to expand. Job reductions have nearly shrunk by half, but there are still more cuts than hires.

Then there's this, from the NFIB's news release:

"Profits are terrible, with those reporting declines outnumbering those reporting gains by 45 percentage points, 2 points shy of the worst reading on record (January, 2009). This is due to poor sales... and extensive price cutting... Thirty-two percent of the owners report that weak sales are their number-one business problem. Taxes received 22 percent of the vote, while financing received 4 percent and inflation received only 3 percent."

Tell us what you think. Does "depressed" sum up your feelings about the nation's economic outlook?