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GE's profit shortfall slams stocks, leaving investors to wonder if more nasty surprises are ahead. IBM's earnings will key next week's markets. A report on consumer sentiment hits a 26-year low. Goldman Sachs says investors should short Washington Mutual.

Dear FSB: My father, brother and I own a plumbing business that is under my father's DBA. We have since expanded. Now, my brother is in charge of repairs, my father new construction, and I manage the overhead. I was wondering if we should develop our own individual LLC's - my brother for repairs, mine for management services, and my father for new construction? My father is also getting older and I want to make sure when he retires he receives 33% of profits for the rest of his life, as he started the business. Can our separate LLCs form a partnership? What would you recommend?

Dear FSB: I work in a small office and my co-worker eats sunflower seeds all day and it's distracting. I've talked to the office manager, who hates confrontation, but she is reluctant to do anything. What should I do?

The aircraft implicated in the grounding of thousands of American Airlines flights this week is a noisy fuel hog that offers travelers few amenities. But the planes are paid for, and many pilots are attached to them. 

Competing for federal grants can make a small-business owner feel as if she has stepped into a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Larger, better-funded firms are always ready to pounce on little guys and snatch their tiny portion of the government cheese. What's worse, some politicians have now decided that it's Tom who needs some help. The U.S. House has passed, and the Senate is considering, legislation that would dramatically alter the definition of "small" business and expand access to set-asides now reserved for independent entrepreneurs. The bill's Orwellian title: the Small Business Investment Expansion Act.

Meet the big winners at Rice University's 2008 business plan competition, co-sponsored by FSB.

Entrepreneur Maria Peevey has gone to the dogs, thanks to Wal-Mart. After the retail giant increased its order of her pet apparel and accessories late last year, annual revenues for Peevey's San Francisco company, SimplyShe, jumped from $6 million in 2006 to $25 million in 2007.

Celebrate spring with FSB's top literary picks for April.