The Business of America

But all think he is, at his core, anti-business. When I asked for specifics, they pointed to the fact that Obama has no business executives in his Cabinet, that he rarely consults with CEOs (except for photo ops), that he has almost no private-sector experience, that he's made clear he thinks government and nonprofit work are superior to the private sector. It all added up to a profound sense of distrust. (Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post, 7/5/10)

What's called "financial reform" has twin motivations: to stabilize financial markets and to punish "Wall Street" for the crisis. So much in the legislation (a consumer protection agency, restrictions on "proprietary" trading by banks) is left to regulators that no one can now know the full outcome. It could be greater stability, overregulation or a scattering of risky activities into lightly regulated institutions. History will judge whether this qualifies as genuine "reform" -- or just revenge. (Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post, 7/5/10)

In a hearing on Friday, after the Labor Department reported that employers added a mere 83,000 private-sector jobs in June, Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the top House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee, argued that fiscal discipline was vital to restoring confidence. “Businesses are slow to hire because they fear higher taxes, job-killing regulation and a dysfunctional Washington that is ideologically driven and increasingly anti-business,” he said. (NYT, 7/5/10)

The business of America is not - as President Obama would have us believe - government.