Banker & Tradesman’s annual reader survey, conducted with Sudbury-based market research firm Bannon & Co., indicates that overall, the mood in the Massachusetts financial and real estate sectors is on the upswing. A majority of respondents – 55.3 percent – expect the Massachusetts economy to “improve moderately” this year – a 5 percent increase from last year.

And there were fewer respondents – 29 percent compared with 37 percent a year ago – who expect the state’s economy to stagnate.

The outlook for the national economy is even brighter. Fifty two percent of respondents think the nation’s economy will improve moderately in 2013. Last year, only 39.5 percent of respondents expected moderate improvement.

But while concern over political gridlock in Washington has lessened from a year ago – with 16 percent of respondents saying it “completely” affected their business in 2012, compared with 27 percent in 2011 – the numbers still aren’t good. A disturbing 58 percent of respondents said political gridlock “moderately” affected their business in 2012.

“In general, people do not like to be in a state of flux,” one reader wrote. “If they know the direction the government is heading, they feel they can make informed decisions. Not knowing how their business will be affected because of the gridlock causes business owners to stand pat until the path is clear. Uncertainty breeds a wait-and-see attitude.”

Another wrote, “As a real estate broker, I have seen first-hand the dulling effect on potential buyers of the indecision relative to the economy. Too much uncertainty.”

And one reader said simply, “Congress should be ashamed of themselves.”

With an increased confidence in the state and national economy and expectations of growing their businesses, businesspeople have the right to expect their lawmakers to help them, rather than hinder them.

Just as we totter away from the edge of the fiscal cliff, however, we’re already hurtling toward the next crisis over the debt ceiling. Republicans in Congress have warned they are willing to raise the debt limit only in exchange for major spending cuts. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is adamant about refusing to make a deal on this issue.

The Treasury Department is expected to soon warn that the government will be unable to pay its bills unless the government is allowed to extend its borrowing authority beyond the current $16.4 trillion limit. The possibility of a showdown in D.C. has proven irresistible to newly retired Rep. Barney Frank, who wants to be the interim replacement for Sen. John Kerry – Obama’s nominee for secretary of state.

Maybe Frank’s sharp tongue could cut through the rhetoric that seems to be weighting down debate in Washington. All that businesses want from lawmakers is the support to continue growing their businesses – not to endure one fiscal fiasco after another.

The bottom line is that just as Massachusetts business owners have to pay their bills, so does the U.S. government. Raising the debt ceiling is critical to fund programs that Congress has already approved.

Business owners know that paying bills is a responsibility that comes with the job. Politicians should stop wasting our time, let the government pay its bills and help grow in 2013.