Small business owners have lost confidence. That’s a big problem for the U.S. economy. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index reached a new cycle low in April, plummeting even further than it did during the COVID pandemic.

As Mitchel Krause, founder of Other Side Asset Management and Hedgeye Power User, pointed out in this tweet, 99.9% of all businesses in the U.S. are small (500 or fewer employees) and contribute 45% to 50% of the U.S. GDP. These companies will have no choice but to lay off employees in a #Quad4 recession.

“When people tell you ‘the consumer’s holding up and in good shape,’ these people don’t run businesses, they run their mouths,” explains Keith McCullough in this clip from The Macro Show. “This is what’s going on in America. Wake up.”

Watch the full clip above.

McCullough: Wake Up! The US Consumer Is Not In ‘Good Shape’ - TMS Banner