[IamConservative]

IMO, the entrepreneurs are sitting tight until there is more certainty in the regulatory environment. Why would you risk a venture when you can’t even figure out how much Healthcare will cost you? What new EPA regulation might come down the pike and wreck your business. Etc.

Just this week Obama started attacking the last frontier - the internet.

[Alberta's Child]

I think there are other factors at work. Since my first job in high school I have worked for five different employers (all private sector). Three of them “died” while I was working there. One closed when the owner retired, and the other two were acquired by other firms. Only the last of the three (an acquisition) had anything to do with the state of the economy, and that was only partially driven by financial circumstances.

[Varda]

It's about taxes too. America alone taxes investment money as income. That single thing kills startups in the cradle. I see startups continuing to be born but only in other countries. People are figuring the cost of business in the US and they're voting with their feet. Americans are starting businesses in Ireland and Singapore at an increasing rate. Those countries (among many) don't care where you're from.

BTW the stupid American public is complicit in this, they love taxes on business.