SmallBusinessNewz

Well, it seems that the holidays did little to put the average small business owner in a positive mood.  The National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Optimism Index fell in December, landing us in some decidedly spooky territory.

Suppose a 35-year-old person tells you he's in the second-worst mood of his life.  That would really mean something, right?  And according to the NFIB, the Optimism Index is at its second-lowest level in the 35-year history of the survey.

Here's the list of index components that saw decreases: "plan to increase employment," "plan to increase capital outlays," "expect economy to improve," "expect higher real sales," "current inventory satisfaction," "expected credit conditions," and "earnings trends."

Meanwhile, a couple of things stayed steady, and "plan to increase inventories" was the only component to rise.

NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg stated as a result, "Unless there is a solid turnaround in January, we are in for a longer-than-usual recession."  And since we're almost halfway through the month and no fantastic economic development has happened yet, we're going to skip the cliched advice to "buckle up" and go straight to suggesting that you consider a five-point harness.