The View From Your Recession

A reader writes:

I am a small business owner in New York City. At the beginning of the recession, I had a handful of part-time employees who got paid cash under the table, as they freelanced or worked other jobs. My best employee lost his main gig and asked me for help. I cut the rest of the employees and put him on payroll. I allotted more work-hours than I really needed, but he was in a jam and I believed that I would see a return on the investment.

A year and a half later, the investment...