February 3, 2010 9:07AM # Why the Slow Recovery? By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE “Wealthy Face Higher Taxes.” That’s the headline that greeted two million American businesspeople Tuesday when they opened their *Wall Street Journal*s. Inside, another banner head: “Big Firms Would Face Deeper Tax Bite.” Turn to the *New York Times*: “A Red-Ink Decade/​Obama Budget Sees Years of Deficits.” The *Financial Times*: “Obama to target overseas tax breaks.” *Investor’s Business Daily*: “Higher Taxes for All in Obama Budget, $1.6 Tril 2010 Deficit.” And the *Washington Post* (not that many productive people get that on their doorstep): “Obama budget would spend billions more.” And President Obama wonders why banks aren’t lending, employers aren’t hiring, and investors are holding back? As the Economic Policy Institute [illustrates](http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/snapshot_20100127/), this is the slowest recovery of any postwar recession. ![[chart: Current downturn is far worse than any other in post-War period]](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/www.epi.org/39345804326/20100127_snapshot_580.jpg?itok=E44BoH5l) Let’s hope the Obama administration soon learns that higher taxes, more regulation, a larger share of GDP shifted to government, fears of Fed monetization of soaring debt — not to mention newspaper [reports](https://www.cato.org/2009/07/25/brainstorming-for-your-dollars/) of Obama budgeteers “flipp\[ing\] through the tax code, looking for ideas” — can only discourage employers, investors, and entrepreneurs. Robert Higgs has cited the role of “[regime uncertainty](http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?issueID=34&articleID=430)” in prolonging the Great Depression, as investors worried about what FDR might do next. Will Wilkinson [points](http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/12/04/geithner-says-obamas-political-strategy-hurt-the-economy/) to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s saying “businesses want certainty. They need certainty so they can make long-term plans today.” Unfortunately, Will says, “Creating completely irresponsible, economically chilling regime uncertainty would appear to be the basic *modus operandi* of the Obama administration.” Taxes, regulation, and uncertainty — and Obama asks why businesses aren’t lending, investing, and hiring. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).