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If your biggest problem is not knowing whether the capital gains tax rate is going to be 15% or 25% in ten years then you don't have enough competition.

Whining about uncertainty is the signal that capital has run out of things to complain about.

With the Chamber of Commerce's lurch toward operating as an outright wing of the Republican party this year, I suspect it's only a matter of time before we'll start to see CoC boycott campaigns.
Yeah, and it's a damned shame, too. I used to look at the Chamber of Commerce as a pretty cool civic institution. Now they're just one more group of hacks. Especially grating to hear them talk about 'small business' when the policies they're advocating, by the dollars, are way more about entrenched big business and institutional investors.
Got a reference for this?
I can't reply to your more deeply threaded comment, so I'll reply here. There has been many stories about the CoC this year; here's an example:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/us/politics/22chamber.html...

The CoC is the largest lobbying organization in the US and >90% of its advertising during the 2010 election cycle went to support Republicans or attack Democrats.

That was all I was asking for. Thank you, not sure why my asking this got so many down votes but I appreciate your response.
In situations like that I take an abundance of downvotes to signify an entrenched outlook, or a widespread belief through the userbase that what you are questioning is 'common knowledge'. (whether or not it's actually common, has any proof, or is even true)
Well now I know. thanks for the clarification. Something about the Chamber of Commerce in the US shouldn't be considered common knowledge. Had I asked who is Steve Jobs, then I'd assume that was common knowledge HERE.
A reference for my opinion?
You are saying the CoC is in bed with the republican party, I admittedly haven't paid much attention to them other than at local levels but never saw them as being in bed with the GOP.
I know we're not supposed to talk about politics here, but I just have to say this: regardless of how you feel about their policies, Republicans (and their allies) are just masters at controlling the public discourse and manipulating language to serve their goals. It's seriously both disgusting and fascinating at the same time.

This American Life recently did a segment on it (Act 2):

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/417/t...

I think "uncertainty" is a simplistic excuse. Really we as business owners may not need to overstaff, or want to. We may be more efficient from an hr perspective than we were 10 or 20 years ago.

The interest rate excuse made me think we should guarantee at some level access to capital to all businesses (at risk relative rates of course).

At risk relative rates, you're going to put the government in the position of payday-loan level lenders.

Personally, I don't think debit is always a good thing. I mean, if I had access to loans, rather than spending the last five years building up a ramen-profitable business, the mistakes I made would have put me through bankruptcy at least twice. Maybe more, if you charged enough to be profitable.

Personally, I think businesses, like individuals, should largely live within their means.

If you NEED capital to buy more supplies or get started or expand, you should be able to access it through legitimate means (i.e. not loan sharks). Some businesses REQUIRE capital, just no way around it. Can't build a ramen profitable hardware company without cash to start.

I agree that people shouldn't over extend. I was just oversimplifying my argument.

At "risk relitive" rates, you are going to be charging some people payday loan level rates. Most businesses fail.

This, I think, is the problem with the "microfinance" industry. Either you are losing money on the loans or you are charging rates that make success much less likely for your customers.

I think that if you could scale-down something like ycombinator to handle local businesses, that'd work a lot better. that way the person who needed the capital doesn't end up with crushing debit, and the investor gets a cut only if the business succeeds.

Is it my imagination, or is this a poor line of argument?

"Uncertainty about future business regulations is causing us to hold off on major hiring and investment decisions for now."

"Wuss!"

The article was longer than the title, it turns out. I was surprised too.
I think uncertainty actually is a big factor but personal tax rates or the health care reforms are a fairly minor part of this uncertainty.

It is more a matter that the world financial system is serious turmoil. The value of the dollar, Euro or other currencies could fluctuate quite a bit as could the economic climate.