Research and surveys continue to show that small businessesstruggle to thrive, and even survive, for a number of reasons. Highamong these are lack of access to capital, extensive and expensivegovernment regulations, and taxes.

Of equal or possibly even greater concern is that new researchis starting to show that the first two challenges (lack of accessto capital and government regulations) are not only making itdifficult for existing small businesses to survive and grow, butalso actually leading to a reduction in the number of businessesbeing launched.

The survival of existing businesses and the opening of newbusinesses, of course, are vitally important to the U.S. as awhole, since businesses are the "engines" of employment and thesources of government tax bases. For example, businesses pay manytypes of taxes directly, many of them contribute sales taxes (whichare paid by individuals with disposable income, who tend to beindividuals who are employed), and employees of the businesses payincome taxes on their employment earnings.

According to Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO of Gallup, in aJanuary 13, 2015 article in Gallup Business Journal, theU.S. now ranks 12th among developed nations in terms of businessstartups. In addition, in 2008, for the first time sincemeasurement of these numbers began 35 years ago, U.S. businessdeaths began to outnumber business births. In 2011 (the most recentyear for which data is available), 400,000 new businesses werelaunched, but 470,000 died. Prior to that, new business startupsoutpaced dying businesses by at least 100,000 per year.

Decades ago, starting a small business was a popular thing todo. In 1977, for example, 16.5 percent of businesses were under oneyear old. In 2011, only half that number (8.2 percent) ofbusinesses were under one year old.

And, of course, every large business started out as a smallbusiness. While many small businesses don't become extremely large,some do. According to Clifton, here is the breakdown ofemployment:

- 5-9 employees: 1,000,000 businesses

- 10-19 employees: 600,000 businesses

- 20-99 employees: 500,000 businesses

- 100-499 employees: 90,000 businesses

- 500-9,999 employees: 17,000 businesses

- 10,000+ employees: 1,000 businesses

Research conducted by Gallup into the drivers ofentrepreneurship has been able to provide an explanation for thecontinuing decline in the number of new businesses being startedand the continuing increase in the number of existing businessesdying. That crucial factor, according to Gallup, is the decline inthe personal savings rate. Securing adequate financing is vital forexisting business owners, as well as for new entrepreneurs seekingto open businesses, and that financing comes predominantly frompersonal savings.

In addition, the availability of personal savings also directlyaffects business owners' ability to secure and sustain loans andlines of credit. That is, those wanting to start or continue asmall business, but who have little or no personal savings, areless likely to be able to provide collateral and/or convince banksthat they can take on extra loan payments.

U.S. Census Bureau data shows that, while the personal savingsrate was 13 percent in 1973, it dropped to less than half of that(six percent) by 2011 (the latest year available).

When Gallup first asked entrepreneurs about their sources ofstartup funding in 2006, 73 percent of them mentioned personalsavings as a source, while 37 percent cited a loan or line ofcredit as the next most common source. (Numbers could total morethan 100 percent, since respondents could report two or moresources.)

Savings, loans, and lines of credit have become even moreimportant to business owners and startups since 2006. When Gallupasked this same question in 2014, 77 percent of respondents citedpersonal savings as a source of start-up funding, and 41 percentcited a loan or line of credit as the next most common source. And,as noted earlier, the number of new businesses being launcheddecreased consistently over that time period.

A September 17, 2014 Washington Post article suggestedone of the reasons that personal savings may be decreasing. Thatreason is the increasing cost of education, which has been leadingto mounting levels of student debt that are facing collegegraduates who would like to start their own businesses, but whohave more debt than savings.

The Washington Post article cited another threat to newbusiness births - that being that the federal government's "currentmaze of outdated and often contradictory regulations has becomeenormously detrimental to entrepreneurs." The article added, "Thestifling effect of regulatory burden, complexity, and uncertaintyis particularly acute for new businesses, because they lack theresources and scale of larger firms over which to absorb andamortize the costs of compliance."