This is CBS I On The World with John Bacheler.

Here's John Bacheler.

I welcome Gene Marks, the small business columnist for the Guardian newspaper UK and US

Edition, as well as our hometown newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Gene travels the nation talking to small business associations and those concerned with small

business success here in the moment when the recession is not here and it might not be

arriving and the recovery from the pandemic is underway.

Gene, a very good evening to you.

You've been to Minnesota, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, and Wisconsin these last days speaking

to a variety of integrated units with small business.

Is there a way to generalize the mood from credit unions to electrical distributors?

Good evening to Gene.

Hi John.

Yeah, there really is.

You know, most of the industries I spoke to, and again, those financial services, CBAs representing

various industries and contractors in the construction industry and companies that sell electrical

parts and supplies all over the place.

Everyone is still in a high-cost, sticky inflation environment.

Everyone of course is still struggling to find labor.

That remains to be a big issue.

But since you and I spoke, you know, the government issued its inflation numbers.

Consumer price index was at 4% now, which is less than half what it was a year, year and

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