Dashboard: Are We Overstating the Damage to Small Businesses?

Dashboard: Are We Overstating the Damage to Small Businesses?

From 21 Hats Podcast by 21 Hats

April 24, 2026 · 24 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the current state of small businesses amidst various economic challenges with guest John Arensmeyer.

Despite what we’ve been reading about tariffs and immigration and inflation and health insurance, the macro economy has actually held up better than many economists expected over the past year. Unemployment is low, corporate profits are high, and the stock markets have been setting records. So, this week, I put the question to John Arensmeyer, CEO and founder of Small Business Majority: Are things really that tough for small businesses? Well, yes, says John. It’s not necessarily any one issue, he says. It’s the constant drip, drip, drip of many issues. In this week’s conversation, we tackle several of the big ones.

People in this episode

Host: 21 Hats

Guest: John Arensmeyer

Topics covered

  • small business challenges
  • economic conditions
  • unemployment
  • corporate profits
  • inflation
  • tariffs
  • health insurance

Keywords

  • small business
  • economy
  • unemployment
  • corporate profits
  • inflation
  • tariffs
  • health insurance

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Small Business Majority

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