Budget talks: This is getting nasty

Businesses make plans for the long term.

Government needs to stop fucking with tax rates, health care costs, and regulations, so that companies can make realistic projections.

Right now, can you tell me what the costs will be for a new employee?

So, stop talking about raising taxes. Stop passing new regulations.

Stop regulating fresh cream and strawberries like their poison.

 

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2011/08/04/hundreds_of_new_regulations_issued_by_obama_administration_in_july

 

God forbid the person shampooing your hair or arranging your flowers doesn't have a state license to do so:

 

In fairness, indications seem to be that it's worries about demand (and a lack there of) that is keeping businesses from investing -- not uncertainty about the future (or, said maybe a better way, demand seems to be the biggest piece of the puzzle.)

 

How many more pages of nonsense do you need to hear from the guy?

What he wants - what just about every business person wants - is massive deregulation. The freedom to do exactly what they want the way they want when they want how they want.

And after they get what they want, hey, <i>trust em.</i> They'll take care of everything.

My response: Just look at the wonderful world of AAU hoops. A veritable heaven of deregulation. Virtually no separation between billion-dollar shoe companies and 12-year-old kids who don't have enough of their money for a cheeseburger. That's just a lovely industry.

Another: Local radio. Owned by some conglomerate 1,000 miles away. Unable to staff properly based on a corporate bottom line. Forced to pick from a playlist and/or show lineup of corporate's choosing, regardless of whether it plays well in the market.

Is all regulation good? No. Is some of it frivolous? A little bit. But these tropes about economic freedom and the tax man and all that BS is 40 years old now. And it doesn't wash, because taxes aren't very high.

I've said it for about 20 pages now: This is conservative America purposely sitting this out. They're pouting. They're smearing shit on the bathroom walls. This psychological break's been coming now for years, and now it's here. The best thing to do is wait it out and vote them out in 2012. Oh - and push for the Fairness Doctrine on the radio. If it existed, none of this would.

 

The uncertainty has also changed consumer behavior.

People are hoarding money. They're not taking vacations. They're not buying new cars.

And, no "jobs bill" is going to change that.

Only a growing economy and consumer confidence will.

 

If we're going to speak in partisan generalities, then I think the neutering of Wall Street regulation led to the market crash, which probably cost more jobs then some asinine regulations that keep people who can't pass a standardized test for their industry out of business.

I don't think anybody's a fan of stupid regulation, but generally, I don't place much trust in business people to operate ethically when there is cash to be gained, and that trust wanes when more money is at play. So, in that way, I'm for regulation.

I think a lot of our country's problems are rooted more people pursuing money at the expense of professional excellence.

 

For a group of very smart people, the lack of intellectual curiosity regarding business is really striking.

Lots of people here with reporting and story telling skills -- people that know how to ask good questions.

I'd love to see some of you apply this to speaking with business owners. Use a sports angle if you have to. Talk to the corporate sponsors of the teams and/or events you cover.

There's always a new sponsor or one who's decided not to renew. Find out why. Ask them about their business.

I deal with small business owners every day. You'd be shocked at the hassles and hoops they/we go through.

And, you'd also be shocked at how hard it is -- even in this job environment -- to find good, hard working employees.

And if you're not working, you can probably sell a story to any number of trade publications.

 

I agree with you about consumers completely, except for the "no 'jobs bill'" part. My guess -- and I'll admit this is just a guess -- is that consumers are shaky because there's almost 10% unemployment. If you're unemployed, underemployed, or think you're about to enter the ranks of those last two categories, than it makes sense to choose saving over spending (even when interest rates are amazingly low).
If you put some of those people to work -- they're likely to spend more.
And the US is borrowing money at such inanely low rates right now -- putting them to work on infrastructure projects does seem to make a lot of dollars and sense, IMO.

 

Presuming this was the real problem (it's not), 60 percent of Americans also want higher taxes on people making more than $250,000 per year. Such a move might improve their confidence, no?

 

What market crash? Are you talking about the last week/10 days or something else?

We have plenty of laws/regulations on the books. Good enforcement is what's needed.

Too often, regulators will put a little guy out of business for something the big guys do every day.

The little guy can't fight them and the regulators get a win in the books.

The big guys will fight them for years. They might end up paying a fine, but the agreement will state that they don't admit any guilt.

I'm all for cracking down on fraud and other criminal behavior. But there are enough laws on the books.

We don't need more burdensome regulations that cause more work for honest folks and that criminals wil ignore anyway.

 

In evaluating Obama Presidency so far, one of my criticisms is that he is too much of a back seat driver. He does not seem to want his name attached to his initiatives. He lets Congress do his bidding instead of leading. It happened with Health Care bill and it happened again with the debt talks.

The only bill that he took the lead on that has proved to be successful was TARP.