I'm writing in response to our managing editor Don Loepp's blog posting "When will the recovery start?" While Ben Bernanke spoke of a possible bottoming out of the U.S. economy by the end of this year, U.S. industrial output in February fell to its lowest level in almost seven years, and industrial capacity utilization hit a record low.

U.S. manufacturing is still deteriorating, but the pace of decline slowed from 2.7 percent in January to 0.7 percent in February, due to an increase in the production of motor vehicles and parts after extended plant shutdowns in January.

Another important sign of hope, in my eyes, is President Obama's decision to finally help small businesses. He announced Monday that $730 million from the stimulus plan will be used to reduce lending fees while increasing government guarantees on a portion of up to 90 percent of Small Business Administration loans. The program also seeks to increase bank liquidity by injecting $15 billion into banks in order to boost lending to small businesses.

There are about 25.8 million businesses in the United States, and more than 99 percent of all employers are small businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. In the plastics industry, molders and machinery makers with no more than 500 employees are considered small businesses, so are plastics material and resin manufacturers with no more than 750 employees.