In past years when recessions reared, her salon offered an escape from reality that improved sales. People may not have wanted to buy a couch or take a vacation, but they still wanted a haircut, Brown said.

It's different this time. Sales are flat. And there's a new whiff of worry Brown says is being stoked by politicians wrangling over the financial crisis and painstakingly reported by the media.

"The customers don't say too much, but I know the staff and everybody is cutting back and bringing their lunch. Expenses are going up for the business and the consumer. So they want to make sure they are safe," Brown said.

On Friday, the House approved a revised $700 billion rescue of the financial markets and sent it to President Bush, who immediately signed it into law. While 60 percent of the House favored the rescue plan, it did little to soothe Wall Street's nerves. The Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 157 points as economic concerns eclipsed the bailout.

"I just knew they had to do it. It didn't sound like they had any other choice," said Brown, who understood the need to prop up banks and get the nation's credit markets working again, but doesn't think the House action will help her. "Have you ever known a small business that got bailed out?"

And while the bill's defeat earlier in the week served as a wake-up call for at least 58 more Congress members, back in Utah the bailout remained controversial.

"You still have government continuing the problems they created. That doesn't seem to be corrected. So in a way, it seems scary to continue pouring billions into companies that don't handle their finances right in the first place," said Jack Mitchell, CEO of Arco Packaging and Janitorial Sales in Murray.

As the crisis spreads to Main Street, small businesses along the Wasatch Front are sensing the end of a four-year stretch of robust growth that put Utah among the top economies of the country.

"They are very nervous. Most of them are being cautious, tightening in their additional spending. There are several businesses that are having a hard time securing short-term loans. The hoops they have to jump through have doubled," said Candace Daley, who leads the 4,000-member Utah chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business.

The mood isn't gloomy. Utah banks aren't burdened with bad mortgages on their books. Job creation, considered by many economists to be the best yardstick of Utah's health, rose just 0.3 percent in August. Still, it rose, suggesting the economy hasn't stalled.

"Sales have been not real bad. I'd say I'm down probably 10 to 15 percent from last year. I think consumers are a little more careful this year," said John Waldrip, who owns Carefree Furniture, a Cottonwood Heights maker of hand-built outdoor furniture.

Waldrip adjusted to sluggish sales by cutting spending. Instead of buying better equipment for his business, he is restricting purchases to the wood, glue and other raw materials he needs to build the Adirondack chairs, tables and benches his clients are still ordering.

"I'm just trying to be conservative at this point. When money is tight, you hang onto it. You don't spend until the economy is doing a little better," Waldrip said.

Mitchell, the Arco Packaging chief executive, thinks his business is a good barometer of Utah's economic health. The 40-employee company sells boxes, tape, cushioning materials and other packaging supplies to firms around the state. Mitchell said Arco will probably rack up $13 million in sales this year, 17 percent more than last year.

"So if businesses are buying and selling and doing things, then it can't be so bad. Can that change tomorrow? Sure. If the banks pulled all the credit lines [of their clients], which is rumored to happen, it could change instantly," he said.

Arco has a $1 million open line of credit with KeyBank of Utah but limits itself to only about $300,000 at any time. Mitchell said the bank hasn't indicated it will restrict Arco's access to capital, and earlier this week KeyBank said its lending standards haven't changed.

"The caveats shouldn't be any different than they were a year ago in that we are still lending to people and companies that have good credit," KeyBank President Jill Taylor said.

The Internet has made it easier for Round Window Mouldings Inc., a Salt Lake City maker of ceiling domes, columns and other custom-made architectural embellishments for homes, courthouses and business offices, owner John Christensen said.

Annual sales have stayed at $1.2 million, despite the national housing downturn that began in mid-2005. That was when RMI rolled out its Internet site. Today, 60 percent of the company's sales are made via the Internet to wealthy clients across the country.

"Our customers are millionaires, people who are well to do. Where they are getting their money, I don't even ask. But they've got it, and they want our product," Christensen said.

Kirk Baldwin isn't sure why his Ogden insurance business is doing a little better - and his commissions are commensurately higher - this year. He speculates that his customers may want more security in tougher times.

But more deals aren't enough to offset rising costs.

"I maybe contribute 25 percent [toward a group plan] . . . but the employees have not been able to take that option because they have to contribute 75 percent. So for the smaller employers it's tough. It makes it difficult to bring in the people you need," he said.

pbeebe@sltrib.com

- FRAN BROWN, owner

of a salon in Layton