SmallBusinessNewz

While everyone should be careful not to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy, small business owners should also prepare for a second recession, according to a new survey.  In fact, according to the survey, most small business owners are probably already making themselves ready, since 75 percent of them believe a second recession's on the way.

Rasmussen Reports, on behalf of the Discover Small Business Watch, surveyed 750 small business owners, and an official Discover statement explained afterward, "75 percent of small business owners believe it is likely or highly likely that the economy will slip into another recession before it fully recovers, with 15 percent believing another recession is not very likely to happen and 10 percent feeling unsure."

That's pretty unambiguous (and bad) news.  We can only hope the majority of respondents also expect the second recession will be shorter or less severe.

As for how the responses to the more routine parts of the survey turned out, more business owners rated the economy is "poor" in July than June (58 percent versus 51 percent), and 57 percent said it's getting worse, too (versus 51 percent).

That led the overall index to hit 83.0 in July, down from 86.1 in June.

Small business owners shouldn't count on things improving too soon, then, and should maybe start thinking about how any tricks picked up during the first recession could be refined during a repeat performance.