For the past two weeks, ChaddsFordLive.com has had stories
on new businesses in the area. Last week the story was on Sophisticated Ladies,
an upscale consignment shop in Chadds Ford Township. This week the story is
about Sinful Snacks, a restaurant and snack shop that just opened in Pennsbury.

Can anything be read from this? Is the economic climate
turning around in any way?

Considering the national news media is still reporting an
unemployment rate of 10 percent, the answer to the above questions must be,
“No.”

The economy is still stagnating despite TARP and the various
bailouts and the cash for clunkers scheme. If the economy as a whole were
recovering there would be a drop in the unemployment and in unemployment
claims. More people would be returning to the job rolls, with many of them
returning to the companies that laid them off in the first place.

But that’s not what’s happening. There are more new jobless
claims and now the federal government is again talking about extending unemployment
claims.

About the only thing left is for people to start their own
businesses. Getting the “great job” is more difficult for anyone without pull.

 Short of spending wisely or, by contrast, not spending
foolishly, starting a business is one of the best things people can do for the
economy as a whole as well as for one’s own finances.

 It’s the total of small businesses that actually
build the economy in the first place. There were no multi-billion or even
multi-million dollar corporations here when the Constitution was signed into
law, but there were places where people could buy and sell goods and services–and
that’s what an economy and a market place are all about. Whether it’s a trading
post or a shopping mall, the concept is the same.

 Small businesses are also the source for most of the jobs in
the country and they play a role in paying for local government. Consider that
$52 per year per employee local services tax townships levy against people who
work in the township. The bulk of those taxes come from people working in small
businesses.

 Bedroom townships such as Chadds Ford, Birmingham and
Pennsbury are usually about 95 percent residential with only 5 percent business.
Yet most are small businesses–restaurants and retail shops–where residents buy
their sundries, get their clothes dry-cleaned and where they go for that
convenient meal out.

These small businesses are essential to the economic
vitality of any community and we hope they succeed and expand as much as their
respective owners can handle.

It was never the government, on any level, that made the
United States a land of plenty. Rather it was the dreams, ingenuity and hard
work of the small business owner.

 It’s much more comforting writing stories about new
businesses than failing businesses.