Yesterday we wrote about how uncertainty is keeping employers from hiring new workers. The Wall Street Journal’s “Real Time Economics” blogger Kathleen Madigan had a similar post yesterday afternoon, concluding uncertainty is “the mantra of this economic cycle.” Madigan also suggests “squabbling in Washington” is keeping businesses from hiring.
Michael Moran, an economist for Daiwa Capital Markets agrees: “Uncertainties regarding the costs of health care under the new structure approved by Congress, along with potential increases in taxes and limits on carbon emissions, are probably restraining corporate investment.”
And last week, BusinessWeek had an excellent piece on the uncertainty principle in which Barclay’s Larry Kantor compared today’s situation to the malaise of the 1970s (when Washington policymakers couldn’t get a handle on inflation).
Kantor warned, “It’s going to be difficult to sustain a bull market, because there’s a lack of full confidence in policymakers to get it right.”
