Our outlook for 2012 is cautiously optimistic. Quoting activity remains brisk, although many customer plans were either shelved this year or postponed until Q1 or Q2 of 2012. I fear they may all materialize on one day in January or February, at which time we will be up to our eyeballs in work (a good problem to have). If things develop as we think they will, we will be hiring new staff and introducing one or more new services. We remain hopeful, but barely.
Our situation aside, what is clear is that the world economic situation, and perhaps the American political situation as well, have impacted negatively our customers' willingness to take risks and make decisions in favor of launching new projects. Politics and economics are intertwined more than ever.
Businesses are motivated by sales and the prospect of future sales, not tinkering around the edges of the tax code as some politicians would have us believe. Sales, and the ecisions that drive sales, result directly from confidence in the future. Uncertainty in Washington, New York, Europe, or elsewhere impacts confidence. Small decisions locally aggregate into large trends, which move markets and, more importantly, peoples' lives. Our politicians, many of whom have never made a payroll, would do well to remember that.
