.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
An expanded Business Record Annual Survey for 2010 produced about 700 responses and found a relatively strong level of confidence in the Central Iowa economy, some misgivings about the national prospects, a clear desire for lower corporate taxes and a lukewarm attitude toward social media.

We asked our entire database of readers to answer eight questions about a range of topics, then turned to our traditional, smaller list of company leaders for their predictions about business prospects for the next 12 months. Both surveys were sent by e-mail in the week of April 26.

The commercial real estate market is the subject of dire predictions nationally; asked about the local scene, 41 percent of our respondents said Central Iowa will be one of the first regions to bounce back. However, several readers expressed some frustration as well.

“The current lending economy is making it impossible for small businesses to survive, established businesses to grow and new businesses to start up,” one participant wrote. “Until lending improves, we will continue to see empty commercial space.”

Another wrote: “There were incentives to overbuild everywhere, both commercial and residential. The effects of that show up in the credit and financial mess. We don’t need a program to fix this. We need to fix the programs that caused this.”

The respondents also expressed modest confidence in Central Iowa’s employment situation, with 49 percent saying we’ll soon return to our usual levels.

“It depends on whether employers continue just getting leaner or if they start getting smarter about who they employ and why,” one commented. “Only strategic-thinking employers will help unemployment long-term.”

Half of the respondents expect the nation’s economy to remain shaky for some time to come, and one went so far as to say, “If the federal government doesn’t get a handle on spending, we’re in for a general economic collapse.”

Another opinion: “The current macroeconomic climate with this administration is very poor for business. … It is the worst climate for entrepreneurs in the history of the United States.”

Corporate property and income taxes look to be a gubernatorial campaign issue, so we asked our readers about that topic.

Forty-four percent said that the tax rates are too high in both of those categories. Another 22 percent said property taxes are a bigger problem than income taxes.

“Business-friendly public policy where taxation is concerned would help Greater Des Moines in attracting and retaining businesses, bringing more jobs to the community and speeding our economic recovery,” a reader wrote.

Social media such as Facebook and Twitter have been a big topic of business conversation for quite a while, but most Business Record readers have yet to jump on the bandwagon; only 13 percent called social media a “major factor” in their operations.

Some want to use it but can’t. “We haven’t been permitted by decision makers to utilize this for our marketing efforts, sadly,” was one comment.

Others are using it, but not for business purposes. “Most employees use it every day, but only a handful are in a work-related way,” wrote one respondent. “Most is personal use.”

And finally, the executive survey. There, the respondents tended to be confident that revenues will increase in the next 12 months, and half said they plan to hire more employees. Only a third, however, are looking at making significant capital investments.

To read more of the open-ended responses from the larger survey, go to http://tinyurl.com/brsurveyresults.