Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Political Uncertainty Puts Freeze on Small Businesses...

says WSJ.

No kidding.

WSJ continues:

The economy remains unsteady 22 months after the recession began, with banks restricting credit and consumers hunkering down. For these small businesses, and many others across the country, there's an additional dark cloud: uncertainty created by Washington's bid to reorganize a wide swath of the U.S. economy.

The economic contraction is of course the prime force driving companies to lay off workers. But a health-care overhaul grinding through Congress could bring unknown new obligations to insure employees. Bush-era tax cuts are set to end next year, and their fate is unclear. Legislation aimed at tackling climate change might raise businesses' energy costs...

Many companies say they have responded by freezing hiring, cutting benefits and delaying expansion plans. With at least 60% of job growth historically coming out of the small-business sector, according to the government's Small Business Administration, that kind of inertia could impede an economic recovery.
The real problem is that once the rules and regulations are outlined, it isn't going to help because it will simply make it a very hostile environment for businesses to operate.

A significant part of the lingering Great Depression was government messing with wage laws. Messing with businesses will make things even worse. It will not only impact laborers, but damage the businesses themselves to a greater extent than possibly the Great Depression.

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