This is CBS, I Am the World.

I'm John Bachelor of the Business of America's Small Business, and I welcome the Small Business

Columnist for the Guardian newspaper, UK and US Edition, as well as our hometown newspaper

The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Back from the road, speaking to associations and unions across America, small business.

First in San Diego and then in Salt Lake City, Gene Marks.

Gene, a very good evening to you.

Before we use the statistics to tell the story of the slowdown, your conversations with

the woodworking machinery, industrial association in San Diego, and the Utah Credit Union

Association in Salt Lake City, is there confidence that the slowdown is being managed well or

is there alarm?

Good evening to you.

Hi, John.

No one really knows.

There's still a lot of uncertainty that's out there.

The people in the woodworking machinery, industry association are eyeball deep in the world

of manufacturing.

They make machinery and equipment that goes into whatever other customers are using wood

to manufacture, and that could be anything from furniture to anything else that uses wood.

They are impacted when their customers stop investing in them.

My takeaway from that meeting is that they're wary and they're uncertain and they're seeing

a slowdown in orders.

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