Fizzle -- Why???

In the New York Times this morning, David Leonhardt writes that for the economy, 2010, which began with much promise, became a year that "fizzled". He blames it mainly on debt worries in Europe. Maybe he should have looked more closely to home.

In the last year, the economy has suffered from two major problems: government caused uncertainty and antibusiness actions lowered investment and steady unemployment tamped down demand. So what was the government caused uncertainty? 2010 saw no clear tax policy going forward until mid December. Nothing does moe to kill an investment than uncertainty as to how it will be taxed. The Obama Administration also pushed the requirement for through hundreds or thousands of new regulations that would seriously affect much of the US economy. What will the new health care law require of business? No one knows for sure yet, since the regulations have not yet been written. Will investment firms and banks be able to profit in certain areas of their business? We won't know until the regulations under the new "reform" act get written. In the meantime, investment is frozen. That means that growth in output and employment, the direct result of investment, falter.

And what were the anti-business acts of the Obamacrats in 2010? I believe that the biggest is not Obamacare. Rather, it is the continued efforts by the Obamacrats to drive up energy prices and reduce the carbon footprint of the USA. Obama mismanaged the oil spill, but he used it as an excuse to stop most off shore drilling in the USA. As supplies run down, energy prices will be forced up. The cap and trade bill did not pass Congress, so the Obamacrats announced that they would use the EPA to regulate their way into forcing up energy prices. Natural gas prices were low, so the EPA started looking into the "safety" of hydraulic fracturing which produces most of the abundant shale gas that could supply the USA for decades. If the EPA actually takes action on either front, it will make 2011 a disaster for the economy. And I did not mean to overlook the major contribution from Obamacare. Thousands of businesses now face major new expenses for health insurance, just as their businesses are under maximum strain. Wall Street is now subject to using hiring quotas based upon race, gender and ethnicity rather than relying on merit as the determinant for employment. It will no longer be the best and the brightest, but those who fit the government mandated profile who get hired.

In short, 2010 did not fizzle due to some foreign debt problems. 2010 was destroyed by the failures and intentional acts of Obama and the Obamacrats. Let's hope that after the November elections, the Obamacrats are better kept in check for 2011.