© Michael Stravato/The New York TimesPamela Clark of the paint and coatings maker Preservo says she will wait to see how the economy goes before she does any hiring.
Hesitation is weakening the American economy, as Monday's disastrous day on Wall Street reaffirmed what many companies and ordinary Americans have been fearing for weeks: this is too tumultuous a time for businesses or households to be contemplating expansion.
Just a few months ago, analysts were predicting that the economy would grow about 4 percent this year. The forecast is now closer to half that number as a wave of pessimism sweeps the country.
"Everybody gets into this hangdog demeanor with respect to economic expectations," said Paul Laudicina, chairman of A. T. Kearney, a consulting firm. "People sit on their wallets because they feel like everything is going to get worse, and things get worse because people are sitting on their wallets."
There are some signs of encouragement, including retail buoyancy at high-end department stores, improved car sales and even mild construction growth. But the nerve-racking situation that has put pessimists in ascendance got its statistical impetus late last month, when the government reported that the economy had grown much more slowly than originally thought during the first half of the year.
Comment: From Crashes and Empires: ".. All of this is by design.."