A glint of economic hope?

Calculated Risk — your one-stop shop for timely and comprehensive reporting on new economic data — points out something amusing and potentially important in the most recent survey of small business optimism conducted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses. In April “for the first time in years … ‘the single most important problem’” cited by small business owners was not “poor sales.” “Government red tape” edged out the longtime champion by the shadow of a hair. This is cause for celebration, because it means we’re getting back to normal.

In the best of times, small business owners complain about taxes and regulations, and that is starting to happen again.

As we scour the economic landscape for any data point, no matter how tiny, that will help us glean some sense of what the future holds, the fact that business owners might be seeing an uptick in consumer demand could be significant. This is especially true after the disappointing April jobs numbers released 10 days ago provoked a new round of mild panic about U.S. economic prospects. Read More.....