Or maybe it was Benjamin Disraeli. Historians have credited both the humorist and the statesman at one time or another.
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Just as there are different ways to look at statistics, there are different statistics that paint different pictures. That's what happens if you look at SurePayroll's Small Business Scorecard in analyzing what sort of year 2005 was for California small businesses.

"It was a tough year," said Michael Alter, president of the Chicago-based firm that handles payroll services for 15,000 small businesses, with 3,000 in California. "The year 2004 was an excellent one with a lot of solid growth, and 2005 didn't measure up to that."

But, on the other hand, "Small businesses did quite well in California in 2004," said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the L.A. County Economic Development Corp. "If you look at the work force study for Southern California in particular, there was a lot of optimism and businesses were growing."

Alter's company measured two specific factors in compiling its survey size, in terms of number of jobs added, and payroll, in terms of the average paycheck.

"In the first category, the numbers for 2005 were worse than those for 2004," he said. "In the second, the numbers were better but were still declining."

In the size category, small businesses in California grew by 0.7 percent last year, compared with 8.4 percent growth in 2004.

In the payroll category, the size of an average paycheck declined by 0.7 percent in 2005 after slipping by 9.2 percent the year before.

"With growth of just 0.7 percent, that means there weren't many jobs being added," Alter said. "So the good news is that hiring didn't actually decline, even though people were paid a little less."

Of course, that doesn't necessarily measure start-up businesses, and Kyser said there were quite a few of those.

"We were talking with people at the California Fashion Association," he said. "There were a lot of start-ups in that area. I think if you look at the total of civilian employment in the state, small businesses are growing very rapidly."

Alter said the fact that there was growth at all is impressive.

"If you look at the fact that interest rates essentially doubled insurance was up by double digits, raw materials were much higher and wages were relatively flat this is probably good news," he said. "It's definitely a matter of attitude over facts. Entrepreneurs and risk-takers by nature look at the glass as half full.

"How else can somebody take the attitude that he and four other guys are going to go out and beat IBM?"

Copyright (c) 2006, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Calif.