Charles Krauthammer: "We Are Having A Capital Strike"

Charles Krauthammer: "There are three major areas a corporation, small or large, has to worry about: health care costs, energy costs and the cost of money. In each of these, the administration either has or is planning regulations worth thousands of pages which (a) are going to raise costs, as we know, but also are going to interact in ways that nobody understands and are going to create uncertainty. If you're trying to figure out who you're going to hire and how many, and you have no idea if you're going to be able to afford the extra health care costs, you're not going to hire. With energy and cap and trade, you know it's going to increase the cost of energy, and, with the cost of money, the financial regulations are not just going to affect the big banks, but this consumer agency is going to involve itself and regulate every kind of lending, from auto dealers to shirt makers. So, in every area, there's going to be an increase in uncertainty, you know the increase in regulation. And when you don't know what's going to happen, you don't invest. We are having a capital strike."