Business Outlook is sharply down. Regulation is up and sales are down, says NFIB..

The NFIB reports in August that US business sentiment plunged lower than the worst days of 2008.  The -26 reading is produced by subtracting the percent expecting worse conditions from the percent expecting better conditions six months from now.  h/t smalldeadanimals.com
A quickie summary is here at maxedoutmama and the complete September NFIB report is here in pdf format.

The biggest problems reported by small business owners (page 18 of NFIB): Dropped sales and increased regulation.  "Labor quality" improved in the second chart. (More qualified people competing for the available jobs and perhaps junior people being laid off while experienced people are kept on.).  Taxes have usually been the number one headache but aren't worse then they were a few years ago.  Remember when the cost of insurance dominated the news?