If Lee Muns does not secure a contract in the next two weeks he will be forced to close the business he started in 1989, putting himself and six employees out of work. His company, based in Beech Island, South Carolina, manufactures and installs industrial pipes. It completed its last project in November and has had no work since then.

To try to keep Muns Welding alive, he sacked 19 workers. As the months dragged on, he sold off inventory; auctioned personal items; took out a $100,000 loan from his bank, which will lend him no more; and racked up $22,000 in credit card debt. Now he fears he may no longer be able to delay the inevitable.

The fortunes of companies such as this hold the key to understanding the sluggish US economy. Headline-grabbing corporations have been growing, hiring and racking up profits in the past year – but in the US, as in other countries, it is small and medium-sized enterprises that employ most of the workers.