When the July jobs report is released this Friday and its results are, as expected, less than stellar, you will no doubt soon be assaulted by stories like this from the business mouthpieces and Wall Street pundits.
Confronted with incredible uncertainty about the future business climate brought about by massive regulatory and tax changes, they are sitting on cash instead of investing in capital equipment and, especially, hiring new workers.
Ah, yes, it's that "incredible uncertainty" -- not the very real and very depressed economy itself -- that's the cause of weak private sector investment and hiring.
The business mouthpieces will surely be promulgating the "uncertainty" smokescreen, just as their confidence men pursue the sado-economic Republican austerity drive that itself is further weakening the already weak economy.
As we've been saying, the private sector has shown that it's not going to expand employment on a scale large enough to bring unemployment down significantly, unless they see a need to respond to a real boost in demand. That's why the private sector needs a public jobs stimulus.
cross-posted from Working America's Main Street blog where I am a featured guest blogger
The author is the winner of the 2010 CREDO Mobile/Netroots Nation award for Blog Activist of the Year