Business owners cheer Trump
Almost seven out of 10 small-business owners say President Donald Trump will positively impact their business. The same majority believes that Trump will follow through with his promises of deregulation and tax reform.
But, small and medium-sized business leaders say they’re more enthusiastic about the U.S. economy, according to a survey from JPMorgan.
The 2017 Business Leaders Outlook found that business executives from small and mid-sized firms across the U.S. are more optimistic about the global and national economies and think that the Trump administration will be a positive for the country.
Steve Staub, owner of Staub Manufacturing Solution in Dayton, is a small business leader who is excited about what the president has done in his first month of office.
“The general conversations I hear from other business owners is one of optimism. They’re excited that he is moving at the speed of business with his actions and not the slow pace of government thinking,” Staub told me.
Staub hosted Trump at his Harrison Twp. business in October before the election for a business roundtable with other Dayton business owners. He also attended the president’s inauguration in January in Washington, D.C.
The number of business people appointed to Cabinet-level positions is what excites Staub and others the most.
“We have people who have seen businesses prosper or fail, not politicians who can’t relate,” Staub said.
Another recognizable face in the Dayton area has spoken to Trump about his concerns. David Farr, CEO of Emerson, which has a large footprint in the Miami Valley, was part of national roundtable of manufacturing executives last week.
Farr, a Trump supporter, said today’s world is not using the same manufacturing he grew up in and new ideas are needed to grow manufacturing.
“When I was younger, you walked through a manufacturing facility and you saw a lot of stamping and welding. Machinery is still being used, but it’s automated and they have sensors on it,” Farr said.
Office vacancies down
Offices vacancies in the Dayton area dipped last year as businesses leased a record 125,000 square feet of office space, according to a new report from Colliers International.
That’s good sign of the economy prospering.
The overall market vacancy rate fell one percentage point to 22.6 percent last year, according to the report, which attributed the decline to several significant corporate moves, including CareSource’s occupancy of 48,000 square feet at Kettering Tower downtown; Sensor Technologies’ 52,668-squarefoot lease at Newmark Centre I in Miamisburg; and Booz Allen Hamilton’s lease of 30,000 square feet at Pentagon Pointe in Beavercreek.