The Small Business Optimism Index declined 2.8 points to 95.2 in March as all 10 index components fell for the first time since Sept. 2001, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) tells MRCTV.
All 10 components of the economic optimism index have fallen simultaneously only three times since 1986, when NFIB began monthly tracking of the index – the last time was in September of 2001, when the 9/11 terrorist attacks rocked the U.S. stock market and economy. The only other time all 10 components fell in a month was November 1991, an NFIB spokeswoman tells MRCTV.
The March index fell to its lowest level since June 2014. NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg attributes the weakness to government actions to restrict growth – such as its “climate change policies that will crush economic growth”:
“First quarter growth is looking quite weak, due in part to weather (reduced shopping, construction etc.), the sharp decline in energy prices (lower employment and capital investment), weakness among our trading partners (lower exports) and dock strikes in the western part of the country. It is surprising that job markets have looked as good as they have given that GDP growth continued to slow from Q4 2014 rates.”
“Meanwhile, the government continues to extend its control over the private sector, taking actions to restrict the growth in the energy sector, promulgating policies to support union growth in the small business sector, supporting climate change policies that will crush economic growth, unleashing the EPA to regulate every aspect of business activity and ignoring the issues that are important to small business growth such as tax reform and the regulatory avalanche that diverts the use of capital and owner time to unproductive activities.”
