{"id":534759,"date":"2010-04-19T07:40:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T11:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"e2249889-c78b-43e3-9643-b1d7d4aa587b:424345"},"modified":"2010-04-19T07:40:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-19T11:40:00","slug":"economic-train-leaving-some-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/534759","title":{"rendered":"Economic train leaving some behind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/network.nationalpost.com\/NP\/blogs\/tradingdesk\/engine.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/network.nationalpost.com\/NP\/blogs\/tradingdesk\/engine.jpg\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\" height=\"195\" hspace=\"5\" width=\"293\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>In the popular children\u2019s story The Little Engine That Could, \u201cI think I can, I think I can\u201d is a mantra that is repeated throughout. The little blue engine that was willing to try to take a stranded train to its destination despite difficult terrain, might be a good metaphor for the sputtering U.S. economy.<\/p>\n<p>There appears to be growing sentiment that the train is leaving the station in terms of the recovery, but that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t significant headwinds still in place. A persistently high unemployment rate and a lack of lending are two of the big ones.<\/p>\n<p>Both will keep economic growth rates below potential in the near-term, says Tom Porcelli, U.S. market economist with RBC Capital Markets in New York.<\/p>\n<p>Another headwind he has been highlighting for some time is the lack of optimism by small business. It accounts for roughly half of economic output, large enough that we should pay close attention to what they are saying, Mr. Porcelli notes.<\/p>\n<p>The trough in small business confidence (as measured by the NFIB survey) is one year behind us, but it has yet to move all that much. The index has risen about five points to 87. Following the sharp recession of the 1970s and 1980s, the index was up by 15 points on average a year after the trough, and it stood at an average of approximately 102.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems obvious small business owners currently remain worried,\u201d Mr. Porcelli says, labeling concerns such as poor sales \u2013 \u201ca great counterpoint to the improvement seen in consumer spending.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the past year or so, the NFIB \u201cpoor sales\u201d index has increased along with retail sales. The economist says this suggests that small business owners are not benefitting from the rise in sales.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf indeed the train is leaving the station&#8230; we think it\u2019s leaving small business behind.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:jratner@nationalpost.com\">Jonathan Ratner<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/network.nationalpost.com\/NP\/aggbug.aspx?PostID=424345\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the popular children\u2019s story The Little Engine That Could, \u201cI think I can, I think I can\u201d is a mantra that is repeated throughout. The little blue engine that was willing to try to take a stranded train to its destination despite difficult terrain, might be a good metaphor for the sputtering U.S. economy. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4059,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4059"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534759\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}