[Hardastarboard]

the "bust" phase of the business cycle is the inevitable and necessary readjustment from a period in which inflation caused malinvestment (which includes hiring people for new businesses, or expansions of existing businesses, that would not have taken place in a healthy, non-inflationary economy)

You make a good point here. I've been thinking for a while that the small businesses that have gone under were probably poorly managed, and wouldn't have existed without something like an inflationary economy. A LOT of small businesses sell stuff that I can't imagine ANYONE wanting even in a fabulously wealthy country, much less in hard economic times (take a walk through your local mall, and take a look at the kiosks for a sampling of what I'm talking about).

[RobRoy]

Along the lines of your post, I expect the kiosks at the shopping mall that sell cell phone bling to be hardest hit. :)

[muawiyah]

The dynamics of small retail enterprises are different from those which affect a large manufacturing concern. The retailer, for example, cannot imediately automate his primary business activity, and it really wouldn’t help him to relocate to another country with a lower wage rate.