Quote:
It was no White House official but Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, a conservative Blue Dog Democrat, who called my attention to a short story in the Wall Street Journal last week reporting that U.S. companies are hoarding more cash — $1.84 trillion — than at any point in financial history.
The newspaper noted that the cash reserves had jumped 26% in one year, the largest increase since at least 1952. Cooper’s point is that by stockpiling that vast amount against the possibility of a double-dip recession or another wave of bankruptcies, nervous executives are starving business of investments for expansion and freezing unemployment at a painfully high level.
“They were badly burned in the Great Recession,” Cooper said, “and now they are nervous about government policy.” Uncertainties in Washington about energy policy, taxes, financial regulation — to say nothing about bad news bulletins from Afghanistan and other overseas datelines — cloud the economic picture more than oil plumes pollute the Gulf.
But Obama seems focused on the relatively insignificant.
Back to summary...