What's Stopping Job Creation at Medium-Sized Firms? It's Washington's "Climate of Uncertainty"

I highly recommend this very insightful Bloomberg article "Economic Stagnation Explained, at 30,000 Feet" by Yale law professor Stephen Carter, based on his conversation while flying and sitting next to a successful business owner, about how regulatory and tax uncertainty is preventing job creation at small and medium firms.

Because he faces a "climate of uncertainty" created in Washington, the successful business owner refuses to hire new employees despite rising demand and sales for his company's products.  

“How can I hire new workers today," he asks, "when I don’t know how much they will cost me tomorrow? I don’t understand," he continues, "why Washington won’t just get out of our way and let us hire. Government should act like my assistant, not my boss.”

About the businessman and seat-mate, Professor Carter writes:

"He’s not anti-government. He’s not anti-regulation. He just needs to know as he makes his plans that the rules aren’t going to change radically. Big businesses don’t face the same problem, he says. They have lots of customers to spread costs over. They have “installed base.” 

For medium-sized firms like his, however, there is little wiggle room to absorb the costs of regulatory change. Because he possesses neither lobbyists nor clout, he says, Washington doesn’t care whether he hires more workers or closes up shop."

MP:  Thanks to the anonymous businessman for making a very strong "laissez-faire" ("allow to do" in French) case for job creation.

HT: Pete Friedlander