"I have a successful retail business that I want to take online with a killer website and a social media marketing campaign on Facebook and Twitter. The problem, of course, is money. I need to raise $100,000 to build the website and launch the campaign, but am having trouble finding the money.
After falling in December, confidence among small business owners rebounded in January as more see the economy and economic conditions for their businesses improving, according to the Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM). The monthly index rose to 91.0 this month, up 9.4 points from December 2010 and 5.5 points higher than one year ago, the highest the index has been since December 2007 when it stood at 92.7.
In his State of the Union speech this week, President Obama refrained from using the term “government spending,” calling it "investment" instead, and made sure to highlight his support for extending the Bush tax cuts. Most voters continue to feel that cutting taxes and reducing government spending are best for the economy.
The overwhelming majority of Americans continue to know someone who is out of work and looking for a job, but the number who believe unemployment will be higher one year from now is at its lowest level in over a year. Confidence in the current job market also has reached a recent high.
While a number of states now face serious budget shortfalls, most voters continue to oppose federal bailout funding to help them out.?
States are currently not allowed by law to file for bankruptcy, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others have argued that bankruptcy might be the least painful alternative for taxpayers in heavily debt-ridden states like California, Illinois and New York. Voters aren't thrilled with the idea, but they like it better than higher taxes, and they're even more supportive if told government employees might have their pensions reduced in the process.
President Obama argued strongly in his State of the Union speech last night for a bipartisan effort to create jobs, but most Americans think the best thing government can do is get out of the way.
Despite renewed concerns about the price of gas, most Americans still aren’t likely to buy an electric car in the next 10 years.
President Obama is expected to call for targeted new government spending for education, transportation and technological innovation in his State of the Union speech tonight, but voters are lukewarm to the idea.
"For the past couple of years, I have run a brick-and-mortar retail store specializing in customized merchandise. I really want to take this business to the next level by building a website that will enable customers nationwide, and maybe even internationally, to customize our merchandise online. We have a proprietary technology for customizing our clients' orders that our attorneys tell us can be patented. We also have one of the best software developers in America wanting to work with us to develop the website.
Deficit reduction is expected to be a key part of President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight as it has been since early in his presidency, but few voters expect him to hit his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term.
Americans are no more inclined to buy a new or used car now than they were a year ago, but among those who are in the auto market Ford comes out just ahead of its American competitors.
Voters still view the economy as issue number one but worry that the government will be more of a problem than a solution as it tries to fix things.
A surprising number of voters unhappy with government bailouts are ready to act themselves rather than rely on Congress.
Nearly nine-out-of-10 Americans say they are paying more for gas than they were last summer and expect to pay even more six months from now. Most say $4-a-gallon gas is likely by July 1.
It's been more than 30 years now since the first personal computers, and more than 15 years since the Internet, gave us all a digital life. Who today can remember what it was like to do business in the days before e-mail, PowerPoint, laptops, BlackBerries, iPhones, iPods, iPads, mobile apps, Facebook and Twitter?
The number of homeowners who say their home is worth more now than when they bought it has plummeted in the past two-and-a-half years.
Congressional Republicans are likely to take a closer look at government-backed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they continue to consume billions of taxpayer dollars to cover bad loans. While many Americans have benefited from Fannie and Freddie loans, a majority don't hold high opinions of either one.
Most voters still aren’t convinced that government bailouts have been a good idea.
The debate over the federal government's role in the home mortgage market remains a stalemate even as taxpayers continue to provide billions of dollars to keep government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in business. At issue is whether the duo should continue to make low-cost subprime mortgages available to those who can't necessarily afford them.
