This is CBS, I On the World. I'm John Batchel. The Business of America's Small Business.

I welcome Gene Marks, the small business columnist for the Guardian newspaper, UK edition, U.S. edition,

also our hometown newspaper of the Philadelphia Inquirer and other distinguished publications.

We go immediately to Gene's travels on the road. He sees small business and the

associations that assemble here and there to talk about business. Is it good? Was it bad?

Gene, a very good evening, Jew. You've been in Nashville, Tennessee, with the pool people.

The people who do very well in the south what is their mood for

25 the summer of 25 good evening to you hi john the mood is actually pretty good the uh this is

an association of people that um sell parts and equipment into the pool industry.

They also provide services as well.

They are actually doing pretty well, mainly because the home building, as you know,

and the residential industry is still kind of in the slums.

People are not selling their homes like they were in the past,

while interest rates are as high as they are so

You know they continue to invest in their own homes and they continue to use the facilities that their homes offer

Plus because you know it's expensive to travel John you know it really is you try taking a family of five to Disney world

It's pretty expensive so a lot of

people are cutting back on travel they're telling me and they're in you know if they have pools in

their homes or if they're thinking of building a pool and you know it's it for future resale value

a lot of Americans are are doing just that so the people in the pool industry there the other

thing they're also you're reporting to me is that the slowdown, sorry, not the slowdown, but the, the, the, the busyness that they had during the pandemic, remember everybody was stuck at home and they were investing in their homes. Well, you know, that backlog has been worked, worked away, but they're still very busy. And, and, you know, the issues that they're facing are what so many others in many industries are facing, John,

they are concerned about tariffs on the parts that they order, because some of them come from overseas,

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