Here is some pretty strong evidence that rich America is holding money rather than investing in Obama's economy:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LEFTTopStories
These are fortune 500 companiies mainly. The guy with the family mill or business who employees anywhere from 20 to 500 employees is still just scraping by. Through layoffs and other downsizing measures they might be seeing black again but, just barely. It probably helps that some of the competition didn't survive the down turn.
The big problem now is figuring out how to inspire these bigger companies with money to spend to expand operations in America. Obviously their confidence in the market place must be low because sitting on capital doesn't make you money. Considering that these guys got where they are by taking risks what their seeing in America must be pretty scary.
My solution is that the American government must first take some risk. They have got to take a look at how regulated the business environment is. As the government itself is forced to downsize to comply with budget restraints they really need to look at where they can cut regulations. This will also make the remaining government more efficient because the smaller workforce won't be required to be involved in as much.
Everybody knows that government policy has had a huge negative effect on the domestic energy industry. They need to open that up. It will have an immediate effect on oil prices and create good jobs long term. I don't think they need any tax incentives either. They just need to be confident that the government won't shut them down after they have invested in some project.
The EPA is one area where Obama has to take a long hard look. I think they should restrict their policy to federally owned lands and waters. Beyond that they should have an advisory role in State environmental protection agencies. The research part of the agency should as much as possible be maintained because they probably can do a better job at that then the States. Where the federal government owns land or water which is still a huge chunk of the States they need to be more practical. Decisions need to be made quicker and a little more risk should be taken. Any economic activity will alter the environment. We need economic activity so the question is always how much are we willing to see the environment change and how much risk are we willing to incur?
Drilling for oil in the gulf for instance means risking another spill. Does that mean we don't drill or does that mean that the means of containment has to be near by and ready next time. Oil would not have reached the shore last time if actions were quicker and equipment closer. The clean up was a greater failure than the spill.
Health care costs have gone up because of Obamacare. Because the regulation is being written as we speak it creates a lot of fear within the business community. Essentually the government dictates what conditions must be covered and when that coverage will begin and end. This is a change from the old system where a company negotiated with their insurer on what was covered and at what cost. Now the group rate isn't set because the government is still writing the new policy as Obamacare is slowly instituted. This was not the right time to introduce universal health care and when it is done it should make the changes clear in advance so businesses can adjust.
Some will argue that health care costs were going up before and they were. The difference now is the business can't control the costs by adjusting the policy. They can't even know if the costs will stay level from month to month because as new regulation are introduce the health provider adjusts the group rate upward.