Southwest Florida business owners complained the most in a new survey out today (Thursday). The National Federation of Independent Business polled its members to see how optimistically they view the future. The best business conditions were noted in North Florida, followed by Central Florida and then this region. N-F-I-B assistant state director Patrick Arrington says the outlook remains positive despite some recent economic slowdowns.

“Florida’s decline was pretty significant--certainly significant to point out that we experienced declines in sales and profits of nine and ten percentage points respectively. That of course is pretty big.”