According to the Federal Reserve, the Business Roundtable letter to the Obama administration, and other sources, companies are sitting on $1.8 trillion of capital because of the uncertainty injected by the government’s policies. But this, says Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein to NPR’s Robert Siegel, is a fiction spread from Country Clubs to locker rooms.

There is this gem of a quote:

This fiction has been repeated so many times that people actually believe it. You know, obviously, there are things that are increasing regulation and that might potentially increase taxes. And no one is arguing that that’s good, necessarily, in the short term for particular businesses or industries. But that’s different from saying that’s the cause of their not doing things.

So there will be tax increases, and there are increased regulations coming the businesses’ way, and that’s not necessarily good, but it’s not causing uncertainty. CEOs are just claiming uncertainty is to blame because they have “an appalling lack of imagination” and prefer

complaining and pointing the finger at every else. You know, these guys are very good at cutting. They’re very good at blaming others. They’re a little less good at coming up with creative new products and services, and they’ve got a little flabby in that regard in the last few years where the focus has been on surviving and cutting, as it should had been. But they’re not the gutsiest group of people in the world.

They aren’t creative are coming up with new products, but, then again, there is Steve Jobs and the new iPad:

Look, do you hear Steve Jobs complaining out at Apple about this? No, he’s busy trying to figure out how to fix the antenna and produce more of those iPads, which he, you know, he can’t get enough of.

I usually enjoy reading Steve Pearlstein’s work. I always learn something, even if I don’t agree with him. This time, however, I am very confused and unconvinced.

The way I see it, the business community is often very conflicted and way too cozy with the government policies and officials from which, sadly, it derives many privileges. Isn’t that more reasons to listen to businesspeople when they complain?