A Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices survey revealed that 70 percent of small business owners in the U.S. rated the government a “C or below” grade for effectiveness of its small business programs, services and available tax credits. Additionally, 85 percent give the government the same grade for its communication efforts with small business owners about available resources and services. Nearly all small businesses (96 percent) believe the government should be doing more to tailor programs and services to better reflect the realities and needs of small businesses.

FINDINGS from that same survey also revealed that small business owners believe inflation is worsening — 72 percent say that inflationary pressures on their business have increased recently, with 61 percent saying that the cost of borrowing and interest rates has negatively affected their small business.

IN a new Pew Research Center survey about the public’s policy priorities, 57 percent of Americans cited reducing the budget deficit as a top priority for the President and Congress to address this year, up from 45 percent a year ago.

IN WalletHub’s study of U.S. states struggling the most with hiring skilled talent, New Hampshire ranked at No. 30, with a 6.5 percent rate of job openings in the last month, and 7.25 percent in the past 12 months. Alaska is the state struggling the most to hire workers, and New York is the least struggling state.

ANOTHER WalletHub study showed signs of progress in the area of education. When it comes to the most educated states in the country, New Hampshire ranked high at No. 8, with Massachusetts claiming the top spot at No. 1. The Granite State ranked in third place when comparing the percentage of people who obtained high school diplomas, and it also ranked at No. 5 in regards to quality of the average university.