Affordability crisis rattling mom-and-pop shops…
“Surging import costs. Mounting payroll and healthcare expenses. A shortage of affordable loans. And a stressed-out workforce. Small businesses are facing mounting pressure from America’s affordability crisis.
Doug Scheffel, owner of a family-run ETM Manufacturing in Massachusetts, laid off about a quarter of his employees in April as the Trump administration’s haphazard tariff rollout dented demand for the machine parts and sheet metal his company sells.
“Everyone is hunkering down and building up cash. It’s never been this bad,” Scheffel told CNN in a phone interview. “It’s very uncertain and impossible to plan in this environment.”
Small businesses are the backbone of the US economy, accounting for the vast majority of total businesses in the nation, nearly half of all employees and the bulk of the job growth.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/18/business/prices-economy-tariff-small-business
That line about laying off a quarter of his workers sticks. Folks don’t cut that deep unless they’re cornered and tired of pretending it’ll turn around. Makes you think something bigger is already slipping underneath all this.
“The Home Depot is a bellwether for the US economy and housing market. It’s latest quarter isn’t sparking much confidence.
On Tuesday morning, the home improvement chain said it served fewer customers in the past three months than expected.
Its earnings come as Wall Street hits a concerning stretch of losses. In the past week, all three major stock indexes are in the red as investor confidence in AI begins to slide.
Traders told the Daily Mail they’re looking to consumer brands, like The Home Depot, to see if there is also a weakness in spending.
Tuesday’s results offer some signs of hope, and new sources of concern: the company lowered its earnings forecast but raised its expectations for sales growth.
Overall, Home Depot was hurt by fewer violent storms reaching American shores, more anxiety among US consumers, and a housing market in a deep funk.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-15302275/home-depot-sales-update-recession.html
The part about fewer customers walking in says enough. People don’t skip Home Depot unless wallets are thin or they’re scared to start anything new. That kind of quiet drop always points to something people don’t want to talk about yet.
“Home values are falling for more than half of America — the biggest share since the country was still clawing its way out of the Great Recession.
New data from Zillow shows that 53 percent of US homes have lost value over the past year, the highest level since 2012, when the housing crash finally hit bottom.
The national market looks flat on paper, but that average masks huge differences between regions, cities and even neighborhoods.
Prices have been slipping in much of the South and West as more homes hit the market and buyers stay on the sidelines.
Many would-be buyers are holding off amid recession fears, stubbornly high mortgage rates above 6 percent, and a standoff with sellers who refuse to cut asking prices.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/real-estate/article-15299957/us-home-values-drop-great-recession.html
The 53 percent number jumps out fast. More than half losing value is the kind of thing folks try to downplay until it’s too obvious. It’s the sort of shift that doesn’t reverse cleanly, not when everyone’s already dug in.