Small Business Confidence: Say Again?

I can see how they say that economic confidence among American small business owners is "plummeting:" here's a major index that is down by 14 percent. That's the lowest since they started counting, though in fairness, they started counting only in 2006.

But wait: the new all-time low is 76.5 percent--having fallen from 88.5 percent. That leaves it still more than half again ahead of the highest-ever major league baseball batting average (achieved by?--guess first and then go here). From there is an inevitable conclusion: small businessmen are insane optimists. I suppose they have to be: few things in life are more hazardous, more doomed to failure, than opening a small business. Heaven save us from a world run by realists.