Disasters beget misery and debt

I came across this article on the CNNMoney website yesterday morning while sipping coffee and contemplating turning the clocks back. Turning the clocks back means I have to get the little step ladder from the garage, climb up a couple of steps, reset the time, and then spend 5 or more minutes trying to fit the clock back on the nail in the wall... the nail that will become flush with the wall at the slightest touch...

Why can't these wall clocks I pay all of $7-$12 for automatically adjust for seasonal time changes? I often contemplate ignoring them and just let them be wrong for 6 months each year.

Where was I? I am sure I had some other complaint or rant in mind when I started... Oh yeah, the article on the CNNMoney website...

The title is quite accurate: Sandy's small business victims: We don't want loans!

A small business is often, if not always, a "dance with the devil" in terms of cash flow. You borrow money to establish and equip it and then use your proceeds to pay on the loan(s), pay your employees, and operating expenses with whatever is left over for yourself. Sometimes there is nothing left over.

The past 4 years has been tough and small businesses have been struggling to stay afloat, often taking on more debt just to keep going. Yet more loans won't help, they just mean more debt. As bad as the pictures of the devastation have been, we are just beginning to see the long term impact of this storm. 

I don't have answers to the problems, just questions and a little trepidation about the next couple of years.