Small Business Owners Divided on Wall Street Bailout Plan

GLENVIEW, Ill. — Oct. 3, 2008 — A survey conducted this month by online payroll service SurePayroll reveals that small business owners are evenly divided on whether the federal government is making the right decision in bailing out financial firms on Wall Street.

When asked "What is your primary reaction regarding the bailout?" survey participants responded as follows:

• "It's sad that we have to do it." 45.4%
• "I am angry about it." 36.6%
• "I am glad that it's happening" 2.7%
• Other 15.27%

"When you are talking about small business, you are talking about the most ardent supporters of capitalism and the free markets," says SurePayroll President Michael Alter. "It's really not surprising that there's some disillusionment with the system having failed in this instance.”

Is the Bailout Good for Small Business?

The small business community is also divided on whether the bailout plan is good or bad for small business owners. In this case, however, a slight majority believes the bailout plan is negative for small business. According to the SurePayroll survey, 51.5% responded that the bailout plan is bad in this regard, while the other 48.5% indicated the bailout plan is good.

One survey respondent indicated that if the bailout doesn’t happen, the U.S. will be in a sorry state of affairs, and likewise further add momentum to the downhill route of the economy.

Another thinks the nation’s crisis is a symptom of poor government policy: “The financial problem is a function of an overreaching, ever expanding government policy that has been evolving for years. The public sector needs to shrink and the private sector thus needs to expand -- this is a direction that will ultimately solve problems without so much controversy in the future."

Other comments include:

• "We should not be bailing out, rewarding or encouraging bad judgment. There should be consequences to selling bad loans. Instead of giving Wall Street and Congress a blank check, they should be investigated and sent to prison."


• "I don't like the potential cost to the citizens of America. This should have been caught earlier and now we have to bail out to keep the financial industry from having an even worse effect on the economy."

About the SurePayroll Small Business Owner Survey

This survey was conducted as an online questionnaire, with responses coming from 262 small business owners that are believed to be a representative sampling of the U.S. small business economy by geographic location and industry.

You can read more of the responses from small business owners at: www.surepayroll.com/spsite/press/releases/2008/bailout-feedback

About SurePayroll:

Voted Editor's Choice for best payroll service by PC Magazine, a Top 100 Product by Accounting Today and finalist in the Best Customer Care and Best Product categories of the 2008 American Business Awards, SurePayroll is America's largest full-service online payroll service and honoree of the of the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Businesses award two years in a row.

SurePayroll is passionate about small businesses and their payroll. The company is dedicated to providing an extremely friendly and simple payroll experience - at a price small business owners can afford.

In addition to its payroll and ClickFREE^TM tax file and pay service - which allows a user to complete the entire payroll process in minutes - SurePayroll offers a suite of online services designed specifically for small business, including HR and compliance resources, 401(k) retirement solutions, health insurance and workers' compensation products.

SurePayroll also offers a private-label and co-branded payroll service to accountants and banking partners to offer payroll processing to their small business clients.