Did you know that public uncertainty about federal economic policy is at
a 30-year high? Economists at Stanford University and the University of
Chicago have
actually discovered a way of measuring how uncertain people are. They
find that their measure of uncertainty correlates with such economic
activities as deciding to invest, deciding how much to produce and
deciding whether to hire more workers.
One source of uncertainty is what will happen next January when American taxpayers will be hit with a large tax increase (mainly the expiration of the Bush tax cuts) and a major decrease in government spending (the result of last year's budget deal). Will President Obama and the Congress agree to put off the tax increases? Will they agree to delay the spending cuts? Not knowing the answers to those questions appears to have more impact on the decisions of businesses and consumers than if everyone simply agreed to go ahead and let the bad things happen.
Some causes of uncertainty (such as the crisis with in the Eurozone) are not under President Obama's control. But in other areas, he is directly responsible for creating anxiety for the business community and the public. Three policies jump out: Dodd-Frank financial regulation, an unhealthy desire to tax capital, and ObamaCare.
Overall, the economists calculate public policy uncertainty is the apparent cause of a 3.2% drop in real gross domestic product, a 16% decline in private investment and the loss of 2.3 million jobs over the past five years.
Read more: http://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2012/07/14/uncertainty/page/full/
One source of uncertainty is what will happen next January when American taxpayers will be hit with a large tax increase (mainly the expiration of the Bush tax cuts) and a major decrease in government spending (the result of last year's budget deal). Will President Obama and the Congress agree to put off the tax increases? Will they agree to delay the spending cuts? Not knowing the answers to those questions appears to have more impact on the decisions of businesses and consumers than if everyone simply agreed to go ahead and let the bad things happen.
Some causes of uncertainty (such as the crisis with in the Eurozone) are not under President Obama's control. But in other areas, he is directly responsible for creating anxiety for the business community and the public. Three policies jump out: Dodd-Frank financial regulation, an unhealthy desire to tax capital, and ObamaCare.
Overall, the economists calculate public policy uncertainty is the apparent cause of a 3.2% drop in real gross domestic product, a 16% decline in private investment and the loss of 2.3 million jobs over the past five years.
Read more: http://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2012/07/14/uncertainty/page/full/
No comments:
Post a Comment