Economics

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Talk shows have no shortage of folks pointing the finger. You’ve heard them. They say it’s government regulation. Taxes. Obama. Banks won’t lend.

Few of the pundits are small business owners. But the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) – the national, non-profit organization representing small and independent U.S. business – polls small business owners each week. One question in each survey asks, “What’s the biggest problem you face today?”

On February 3, 1959, a small plane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing three American rock-and-roll pioneers on board: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. It became known as “the day the music died.”

On September 15, 2008, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve chose not to rescue Lehman Brothers, which was crumbling under a mountain of toxic mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. Lehman filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The Great Recession ensued, and this day has become known by some as “the day the economy died.”

Click on the images below to enlarge.

Click on the images below to enlarge.

Click on the images below to enlarge.

Click on the images below to enlarge

Owners of small U.S. businesses don’t seem to be experiencing an economic rebound. Not by a long shot. They also appear to have little confidence that better times are near. This is in contrast to both public equities (i.e., the “stock market”) run that continues unabated and regular media reports of improvements in global macroeconomic indicators. Here are excerpts from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) January 2010 survey of U.S. business owners (2010 Small Business Economic Trends Report).“2009 did not end on an uplifting note,” reads the January 2010 Small Business Economic Trends report issued by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).