Economic confidence among America's small business owners plummeted in November, as more owners cited serious concerns about cash flow and saw economic conditions for their own businesses getting worse. The Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM)index fell 12 points in November to 76.5 from 88.5 in October.
After three months of gains, the Rasmussen Employment Index dropped more than four points in November to its lowest level since July.
October’s exuberance over the housing market appears to have fallen back to the levels seen for much of this year, while long-term confidence appears to be trending down.
Voters are a bit more skeptical this month about the $787-billion economic stimulus plan, but overall views of the stimulus have remained largely unchanged since President Obama signed it into law in February.
Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has done a poor job handling the credit crisis and federal bailout programs, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Data from Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys shows that 15.0% of Democrats in the workforce are currently unemployed and looking for a job. Among adults not affiliated with either major party, that number is 15.6% while just 9.9% of Republicans are in the same situation.
As the policy debate has unfolded in Washington this year, voters have consistently believed that tax cuts would do more than increased government spending to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Now that the nation’s unemployment rate has reached 10.2%, voters continue to hold that view.
The card made me do it, or so most Americans say.
Fifty percent (50%) of Americans say interest rates on their credit cards have been raised in the past six months, as Congress seeks to limit the ability of banks to raise those rates.
Twenty-six percent (26%) of employed adults say they have seriously thought that someone in their workplace was capable of mass violence, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Most Americans favor extending unemployment benefits for an additional 20 weeks.
Most Americans like the idea of providing tax credits for first-time home buyers but are less enthusiastic when the price tag is included. They strongly oppose expanding it to existing homeowners, although Congress did just that this week.
On the heels of Ford’s better-than-expected third quarter profits and its promise of solid profitability by 2011, 68% of Americans adults hold a favorable opinion of the one company that passed on a government bailout. Ford continues to far outdistance public perceptions of General Motors and Chrysler.
In the United States today, workers expect to change jobs on a regular basis. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just, 37% of working Americans expect to be working for the same employer in five years.
Employed Americans are slightly more confident than they were this summer that leaving their current jobs will be their own decision rather than their employer’s.
The Obama Administration and senior congressional Democrats hope to exercise more government control over big banks to keep them from failing, but voters don’t seem too sympathetic right now.
Questions linger about the effectiveness of the $787-billion economic stimulus plan proposed by President Obama and passed by Congress in February.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Americans say the federal government should place limits on how much banks charge when customers overdraw their bank accounts, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Despite reports of slowing inflation from Federal Reserve policymakers, Americans remain highly concerned about the issue and lack confidence in the Fed to keep inflation under control.
One-out-of-two Americans (50%) still lack confidence in the U.S. banking system, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
