What's striking is the near unanimity of many of the opinions and attitudes expressed by these businesses. The majority (55.4 percent) say they are better off now than a year ago, and an astonishing 84 percent of businesses -- and nearly 90 percent of San Francisco and Sacramento firms surveyed -- believe their businesses will be even better off a year from now. Their expectations of sales and revenue increases and anticipation that their individual businesses will do better paints a picture far more optimistic than we could have imagined. They simply are not letting anything get them down.