Below is a comment from a post at the James Pethokoukis blog at Reuters - 12 reasons unemployment is going to (at least) 12 percent
I’ve had businesses for 30 years.
This is all very simple. Businesspeople are not stupid. They aren’t hiring because:
1. They don’t know what tax increases are coming.
2. They don’t know what new burdensome regulations are coming.
3. They don’t know what changes to the health care system are coming, and if perhaps they will be responsible for everyone’s COBRA or similar for years.
4. They don’t know if it will be harder to fire people in the future.
5. They don’t know if every employee will be allowed to join a union, increasing costs and headaches.
6. They don’t know what new procedures will be invented to upend the bond markets completely, overturning centuries of settled law.
7. They don’t know if Washington will unilaterally cut their compensation.
8. They don’t know if cap-and-trade will double their energy costs.
And on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
I can’t imagine hiring anyone until all this nonsense shakes out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see unemployment above 13%.
I can hold off generating taxable activity a lot longer than Democrats can retain Congress, that’s for damn sure.
- Posted by Chester White
