The recession is wearing Main Street folks down

Theres a lot of talk in the news recently of upturns, or greenshoots. Corporate banks , and Business bankers have been openly expressing a growth in confidence that the worst of the financial recession is for the better part all over, and that the world is set for a recovery.

However, as ususal, those who are on the lowest tier of things arent agreeing. Homeowners, who are standing precariously close to the edge of first time buyer mortgage foreclosure, and young job seekers who continue to be unemployed, aren’t buying it. We cant forget those who are struggling to keep their businesses open everyday on Main Street’s front lines.

“Small-Business Owners’ Outlook Dims”

Small-business owners aren’t convinced the recession is ending and their outlooks darkened in July, according to a monthly survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business.

NFIB’s index of small-business indicators fell 1.3 points last month to 86.5, the second consecutive monthly decline. The biggest reason was a drop in the number of small-business owners who expect the economy to improve in the next six months.

“The recession is wearing Main Street folks down,” says Bill Dunkelberg, NFIB chief economist. “And unfortunately, lawmakers in Washington are doing more to scare small-business owners than to reassure them of an economic recovery.”

Small-business owners are worried about higher taxes and proposed mandates to provide health insurance, Dunkelberg says. Taxes were cited as the No. 1 business problem by 22 percent of the small-business owners surveyed.

A bigger problem, cited by 32 percent, was poor sales.