CEOs explain why they're not hiring despite cash, rising profit

Is this really news?

Many Democrats say the economy needs more stimulus. Business lobbyists and their Republican allies say it needs less regulation and lower taxes.

But here in the heartland of America, senior executives say neither side's diagnosis fits.

They blame their profound caution on their view that U.S. consumers are destined to disappoint for many years. As a result, they say, the economy is unlikely to see the kind of almost unbroken prosperity of the quarter-century that preceded the financial crisis.

The question is how to fix it. It seems to me that the Democrats are closer to the answer than the Republicans. Stimulus will create jobs and that will create more demand. It's not a matter of over-regulation or too high taxes. Krugman is right. It's that people don't have work.