Why the Slow Recovery?

by David Boaz

“Wealthy Face Higher Taxes.” That’s the headline that greeted two million American businesspeople Tuesday when they opened their Wall Street Journals. Inside, another banner head: “Big Firms Would Face Deeper Tax Bite.” Turn to the New York Times: “A Red-Ink Decade/Obama Budget Sees Years of Deficits.” The Financial Times: “Obama to target overseas tax breaks.” Investor’s Business Daily: “Higher Taxes for All in Obama Budget, $1.6 Tril 2010 Deficit.” And the Washington Post (not that many productive people get that on their doorstep): “Obama budget would spend billions more.”

And President Obama wonders why banks aren’t lending, employers aren’t hiring, and investors are holding back? As the Economic Policy Institute illustrates, this is the slowest recovery of any postwar recession.

Let’s hope the Obama administration soon learns that higher taxes, more regulation, a larger share of GDP shifted to government, fears of Fed monetization of soaring debt — not to mention newspaper reports of Obama budgeteers “flipp[ing] through the tax code, looking for ideas” — can only discourage employers, investors, and entrepreneurs. Robert Higgs has cited the role of “regime uncertainty” in prolonging the Great Depression, as investors worried about what FDR might do next. Will Wilkinson points to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s saying “businesses want certainty. They need certainty so they can make long-term plans today.” Unfortunately, Will says, “Creating completely irresponsible, economically chilling regime uncertainty would appear to be the basic modus operandi of the Obama administration.”

Taxes, regulation, and uncertainty — and Obama asks why businesses aren’t lending, investing, and hiring.

Last 5 posts by Allen

• Now is our time! Now is our moment! - August 29th, 2010
• Time to choose, before Time runs out - August 29th, 2010
• Control Freaks, Chapter Eleventy Billion: San Francisco Ban of Happy Meals Imminent - August 24th, 2010
• Still Life With President Obama and His Summer of Recovery - August 24th, 2010
• American Socialists Release Names of 70 Congressional Democrats in Their Ranks - August 16th, 2010

Recently:

• Now is our time! Now is our moment!
• Time to choose, before Time runs out
• Control Freaks, Chapter Eleventy Billion: San Francisco Ban of Happy Meals Imminent
• Still Life With President Obama and His Summer of Recovery
• American Socialists Release Names of 70 Congressional Democrats in Their Ranks
• I’m Mad at Christians
• Why the Left is Always Confused About the Role of Government
• House Tea Party caucus in DC should also be in Springfield
• NFIB – SAVE AMERICA’S FREE ENTERPRISE TRUST ENDORSES RANDY HULTGREN, IL-14
• RANDY HULTGREN RAISES $309,080 FOR QUARTER