Pete's Diner and Carryout, the iconic 50 year old Capitol Hill eatery whose clientele included House Speaker John Boehner, reported an 80% loss in revenues, according to its owner Gum Tong.  This is but one of the sad stories resulting from the partial government shutdown, the money lost by enterprises and entrepreneurs dependent of those services that were shut down.

Big business too is quite nervous as to its fourth quarter results. One of them, Knoll Inc a furniture builder, expects nearly USD10 million of it expected revenue from government office sales to be pushed to next year. This was confirmed by Knoll CEO Andrew Cogan through a call to analysts yesterday. Other companies are reporting losses, such as Stanley Black & Decker, Campbell Soup

Another indicator, the Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index expectations gauge fell to minus 31, its lowest since November 2011. Last September, the gauge had already reached minus 9 and the 22 point plunge is a clear indication of American pessimism about economic growth in the country.