3 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Thoughts on trump’s economy?
In general, I would agree that before 1/20/2025, yes, he was able to market himself in a much warmer way. Now that DOGE/Musk have set their sights on revoking federal grants and programs, like SBA loans, it rings hollow. Which, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m assuming that’s what you were inferring here. It’s also unfortunate because my partner and I really wanted to open our own business, but we wouldn’t be able to do it without an SBA loan and federal grants, and with the current climate with this administration, we both feel it’s not worth the financial risk anymore. I could see where a lot of small business owners would’ve bought into Trump’s language pre 2025, especially after the struggles of COVID and inflation.
Since we’re talking about messaging, I also would add that the Dems messaging of “the economy is great and anybody saying otherwise is wrong!” was also a bad communication error. The economy was bad for average Americans who don’t trade stocks. Many felt it was too expensive (it is) and then to have a party claim what they’re seeing and experiencing wasn’t true is very frustrating, and quite frankly, out of touch. I know for my in-laws, that was a big sticking point for them. They do have a lot of expenses that are unavoidable and due to inflation, and it’s scary looking at those costs while trying to retire. They were using the stock market to temp check the economy, without recognizing that housing costs, food costs, energy costs, etc. for average Americans were astronomically high too, and repeatedly saying “but the stock market!” rang pretty hollow for everybody else. Obviously, there’s a lot of nuanced reasons why Dems chose that messaging, but I think it’s another big error that really rubbed people the wrong way.
It is what it is, and now we’re here and have to figure out how to survive through it the best we can.
Comment by Traditional_Swim4 at 10/03/2025 at 22:26 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
And I agree with you that the environment isn't ripe right now for small businesses owners to make the leap - feels way too volatile given the hits the consumer is going to take over coming years. If you're focused on the very top of the market - maybe but even then.... best of luck to you both!
Comment by Traditional_Swim4 at 10/03/2025 at 22:25 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Couldn't agree with you more re: inflation messaging - that's absolutely what I was referencing. With regard to small biz sensitive topics, I was referring to long-term small biz owners who are less sensitive to sba loans and grants (as they are more new-business focused and VP Harris was strong on the new business tech tax credit). It's really just more, when you're self-employed, you pay your own SE tax, and your effective tax rate is roughly 40% by the time you pay all your taxes. Then, keep in mind that you're also taxed on profits that you don't 'distribute' i.e. pay out to the owners b/c those profits need to stay in the business to fund payroll, future investment, rainy day savings in the event of ANOTHER covid, etc. Covid shutdowns were also really unpopular - not the shut downs but the length of them - many, many small businesses went out of business. And finally, as a remote worker, I understand how valuable that work is and don't take advantage of the flexibility but many, many people did. We pay top of market, fully match all benefits 401k, health insurance, all employees work remotely, they are NEVER required to email or respond after hours, unlimited pto, etc. And they are still a pain in the ass a lot of days and have to be overly managed because they will absolutely take every inch they can get. Trump's tax cuts were v. popular with small biz owners for all the reasons mentioned above and VP Harris campaigned on raising them farther - hard pill to swallow after years of hard times.