Economic Uncertainty is the Enemy

Echoing the thoughts and concerns of Hoosier business owners, Carnegie Mellon University professor of economics Allan Meltzer writes in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “uncertainty about future taxes and regulations is enemy No. 1 of economic growth.”

Meltzer goes on to say this about the incumbent Congressman Brad Ellsworth supported Obama-Pelosi stimulus bill:

The administration’s stimulus program has failed. Growth is slow and unemployment remains high. The president, his friends and advisers talk endlessly about the circumstances they inherited as a way of avoiding responsibility for the 18 months for which they are responsible. But they want new stimulus measures—which is convincing evidence that they too recognize that the earlier measures failed. And so the U.S. was odd-man out at the G-20 meeting over the weekend, continuing to call for more government spending in the face of European resistance.

This follows on the heels of a disturbing headline on MSNBC late yesterday – “Stocks close down on fears of global slowdown.” The articles states, “no matter where they look, investors are seeing economic trouble.” Among the reasons:

Then, shortly after U.S. trading began, the market was hit with news that consumer confidence fell sharply this month because of worries about jobs and the overall economy. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell to 52.9 from a revised 62.7 in May. It was the steepest drop since February and economists polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast only a modest dip.

The Dow dropped another 268 points, consumer confidence fell dramatically and unemployment is still at nearly ten percent nationwide – and yet Congressman Brad Ellsworth still won’t admit his vote for the so-called “stimulus” has failed.

[Full disclosure: Pete Seat is the press secretary for the Coats for Senate campaign.]