Companies, like people, start to re-evaluate what they want to do when government adds a major new level of oppression. Taxes went up and everyone knows they are going to continue to go up over the next decade or so because government refuses to control spending. Not only can’t the president and Congress cut spending, but they are still adding burden after burden after burden in the form of expanded spending and entitlements. If you know you are going to be hit with these obligations, you have to hold money in reserve.
“I don’t want to ruin your evening after such a pleasant dinner. But if you wish to know who is at fault for hollowing out the welfare of middle-income workers and the American economy, kindly do not look at me or my colleagues at the Fed. When you go home tonight look at yourself in the mirror. We at the Fed are providing more than enough monetary accommodation. You elect our fiscal and regulatory policymakers. It is time for them to do their job, to ally themselves with us to achieve a fully employed, prosperous America. Only you, as voters, have the power to insist that they craft policies that are needed to restore American prosperity. Please do so.
Have a most pleasant evening!”
~ Dallas Fed Chairman Richard Fisher, February 11, 2014