Improving economy?

     I would love to believe the economy is improving. The "recovery" is a very popular topic with the media and I suppose there is some hard data to support this idea.  As far as the recovery effecting me directly I have trouble seeing this for these reasons.
     1)  I am in the piano care business and I send our reminder post cards to customers when their piano is due for service.  I still have this experience many times with customers.  I will go to a service call and ask if they received a reminder card and the customer will say they received the card and also the card from last year and the year before but are tuning now because the piano is really bad and the money is finally available.When money is tight and the customer has my reminder card in one hand and the estimate for the car repair and the car is the way to work I completely understand the piano work being put off.  My bottom line just has not significantly improved.
     2)  When I drive through my small community in Florida or the Chicago area when I am there I still see roughly the same number of empty storefronts.  I also see no new commercial construction which would be expected if empty store fronts cannot be filled.  The media talks of improvement in the rate of foreclosure as well as sales but buying a house to live in is a different thing than opening a store and consumer confidence in terms of opening a new business still is not there.
     I know what I personally see and experience is not hard data that would prove anything but consumer confidence is another hot topic the media like to explore and this consumer remains very unconvinced that the economy is going to come roaring back to life very soon.  My last comment about this would be that it is a fact that a smaller government spends less money and it is a fact that the government is too big already and continues to grow.