“It’s (still) the economy, stupid!”

I learned it the hard way when I got out of college in 1978. When there is uncertainty in the direction of the economy, business and industry are reluctant to invest in anything remotely long-term. Even in the worst of economic times, you will still have a small percentage of people who are untouched by the downturn, no matter how much you tax them (and the fact is, a very small percentage of Americans contribute a disproportionately high percentage of the American tax revenue). But the more you do, the less they have to invest. Give them incentives for investing in domestic jobs. Otherwise, get the hell out of their way.