Stories about the recent economic meltdown and recession often focus on the seemingly far-away problems that led to the crisis and the policies enacted to stop it. Housing bubbles, credit crunches, bank bailouts, interest rates, quantitative easing -- comprehending these forces is crucial to understanding the current mess in which more than 9 percent of Americans remain unemployed. But the real faces of the recession are the small businesses that struggle every day in the face of huge difficulties.

In his State of the Union Address, and ensuing rhetoric, President Barack Obama insisted that he will help small businesses with tactics that include an infusion of low-interest loans to kick start expansion. They are the key to the economic recovery, economists argue, because they do so much of the hiring. While corporate profits are up, the stock market appears healthy, and the GDP is growing, it’s hard to see the difference when so many shops still struggle to survive.

Every macroeconomic indicator and change in the larger economy touches the lives of the people who try to keep their mom-and-pop shops thriving. Changes in interest rates affect their ability to expand. Consumer confidence influences their own confidence when deciding whether to lay off another worker or post a “Help Wanted” sign.

Neon Tommy reporters fanned out across L.A. to ask small business owners how massive economic forces shape what they do on a daily basis.

Jackie Matthews asks a local magician and publisher how he reinvented his business strategy to perform the ultimate escape act.

An L.A. barber tells Andrew Khouri how his business has changed since December 2007 and why prices haven't risen or fallen.

Ryan Faughnder asks a Silver Lake record store owner how he's survived the double whammy of the recession and the collapse of the music industry.

A Venice belly dance supply store, weighed down by colossal debt, struggles to carry on, Erin Richards reports.

Larissa Puro chronicles the recession's effects on a coffee shop in downtown L.A.

And Jordan Lee gets a surprisingly upbeat assessment from the owner of an Irish Pub. 

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