CEOs continue to warn against the "fiscal cliff," and businesses -- that is to say, employers -- are increasingly alarmed.

Speaking in a conference call Tuesday to discuss UPS's second quarter earning, Scott Davis, chairman and CEO, offered his observations about the impact of expiring tax rates and automatic spending cuts set to hit at the start of 2013, as well as the general political climate in Washigton. From The Hill, On the Money blog, "Congress just mails it in, according to UPS":

[Davis] said UPS’s customers are increasingly nervous and uncertain because of the elections and the looming “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending cuts set to begin on Jan. 1, 2013. Without action by Congress, all of the George W. Bush-era tax rates will rise in January, and $1.1 trillion in budget cuts to defense and non-defense discretionary spending will be implemented. 

Davis said uncertainty is constraining the ability of businesses to hire new employees, make capital investments and restock inventories. 

 

“As we get closer to the fiscal cliff, there’s just more uncertainty out there than ever,  and it’s hard for me to see how that’s going to turn around until we get some policymaking done in Washington,” Davis said during a conference call with analysts. 

 

“Customers are concerned. They’re not going to invest. They’re not going to hire people. They’re not going to stock inventory with all that uncertainty,” he said. 

Carter Wood, (Business Roundtable)

Carter Wood is a Senior Communications Advisor at Business Roundtable.

View full profile