By Courtney Schlisserman

Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. small businesses fell in July to the lowest level in four months, led by declining expectations for economic growth, a private survey found.

The National Federation of Independent Business’s optimism index decreased to 88.1 from June’s 89 reading. Six of the index’s 10 components declined

The responsible path to prosperity.

All across America small businesses and small banks are being asked to pay for the mistakes of speculators and gamblers on Wall Street. People we represent in Colorado, Wisconsin and Florida believe that's not fair: Responsible parties should clean up their own mess and pay for their own mistakes. After all, small businesses and small banks on Main Street did not cause the recent economic meltdown; speculators in big financial institutions on Wall Street did.

By Scott Lanman and Steve Matthews

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said the U.S. economic recovery isn’t sustainable enough yet to warrant raising interest rates or shrinking the central bank’s near-record balance sheet.