Quin’s point is well taken. Obama-era regulations and rhetoric are scaring away the kind of investment growth the country needs to get Americans back to work. On the regulatory side, increased capital holding requirements stack dollar bills in bank vaults while small business loans dry up. Cost-of-employment drivers like Obamacare and the EPA’s threatened regulation of carbon make any rational employer look for ways to enhance productivity and efficiency instead of staffing up. Simply put, under President Obama it’s cheaper to do more with less to keep what you have rather than risk the money and regulatory gauntlet trying to increase market share.
On the rhetoric side, my recent column on the five most recent dumb statements by the president contains just a sample of his daily assaults on the ambition and energy of America’s job creators. What the president fails to see is that a sustainable government depends on a vastly more prosperous private economy. Until he learns the importance of that relationship, we’re likely doomed to being (and producing) much less than we otherwise would.
Btw, Quin: I’m sure you’ve got business contacts in the Mobile-D.C. corridor. Are any of them looking at the current and future regulatory scene and thinking, “Gee, what a great time to expand”?
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