2025 Small Business Outlook

Twenty twenty-four will be remembered for many things, but the soft landing of the U.S. economy and the reelection of Donald Trump as President of the United States will likely prove most significant.  Both were a surprise to many experts and seem to tell conflicting stories about the health of the U.S. economy, but both will have a huge impact on small businesses in 2025 and for years to come.

To observers on Wall Street, within the Federal Reserve, and inside the Democratic Party, 2024 was the year that inflation was tamed and GDP continued to grow, while consumer spending remained strong and unemployment low.  The stock market, led by technology innovations and AI exuberance, soared accordingly.  But to vast numbers of Main Street Americans, prices remained uncomfortably high, wages stagnant, housing scarce and expensive, and while unemployment was low, good paying jobs with dependable shifts and quality benefits were elusive.  The electorate…