Drew Matus, economist for UBS Investment Research, has this to say to Businessweek about the economy and uncertainty. He was asked who is more uncertain – employers or workers.
Matus suggests job creators are more nervous, and workers pick up on their anxiety. Most Americans work for small businesses, and with small company owners often just down the hall from their employees, it’s fairly simple to figure out if the boss is worried or not. And small business owners are worried about everything from rising health-care costs to taxes.
Well, yes. The job creators are cast by the current administration as bad guys who aren’t responsible for their own success, who don’t deserve their success, and who certainly aren’t paying their “fair share” of taxes. What’s more, the same administration — whose economic policies have prolonged economic misery in this country — is now promising to take even more from these small business owners because they have been deemed “rich.” On top of that, the costly web of regulations known as Obamacare looms. So are small business owners anxious? Of course they are – and with good reason. Policies have consequences. One of the consequences of the growth in government power is that business must try to shield itself from policies that punish success. In the end, it is the workers who lose when their employers must concentrate on insulating the business from assault rather than on ramping up the business for the future. What a shame.
