Mister, can you spare a latté?

Economy: Small businesses of America are no small part of the U.S. economy, and on their survival may hang the country's financial comeback | Lynn Vincent, Alisa Harris

Graphic by David Freeland

SAN DIEGO and NEW YORK—When Think Coffee on Mercer Street in Manhattan opens at 7 a.m., there are usually people waiting outside to duck in and stake their claim. As the day wears on, freshmen and teachers, hipsters and nerds pack the place—buried in books, guzzling Fair Trade coffee, eating vegan brownies. Political art covers the walls. Eclectic coffeehouse furniture fills every nook where eclectic coffeehouse furniture will fit. Turn around, and your elbow will likely bump someone's psychology textbook. Or you'll fight a grad student for an outlet to plug in your laptop.

Jason Scherr hopes it will stay that way. With a stake in four New York concerns, Scherr is one of millions of small business owners keeping a wary eye on the U.S. economy: Stormy equities markets, spiraling energy costs, tightened lending, the mortgage crisis, and sluggish consumer spending have combined to sink some small businesses, while others have steamed ahead.