* The NFIB Index of Small Business Optimism in the month of December, so this is post the election of Donald Trump

* Shot up from 98.4 in November to 105.8

* This is the highest level in 12 years - since before Obama was President

* And it's the biggest monthly jump in 37 years

* You have to go all the way back to 1980, the election of Ronald Regan to find a moment in time where you saw this big an increase in optimism, in confidence among small business owners

* Remember, it was Michelle Obama not too long ago

* Saying, "This is horrible, there's no hope anymore in America!"

* Well, small business owners haven't been this hopeful since I was in high school

* Why are they so optimistic?

* Well, first of all, it's more a testimony to how horrible things have been over the last 8 years

* People are just hopeful that now there's going to be some relief, that Barack Obama is gone

* Because the lat 8 years have been very, very difficult for small businesses

* First of all, if you're running a small business, you can't take advantage of zero percent interest rates

* You can't just show up at the discount window and borrow from the Fed

* Also, you can't sell bonds into the bond market, like big corporations can

* If you're a small business, and you need credit, you've got to go to a bank and get a loan

* But the banks don't have any money - there's no savings - nobody's putting money into the bank

* And no banker wants to carry a risky loan on his books

* When he can just own U.S. Treasuries

* The regulators are all over you, if you actually make a loan to a business

* So businesses haven't gotten capital

* Meanwhile the cost of doing business has gone up because there's been all sorts of regulations that have been added to the burden of business

* Over the lat 8 years


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