Execs blame business drag on Washington politics Live

NEW YORK — In the escalating blame game related to the debt crisis impasse on Capitol Hill, top executives at America's leading companies are increasingly pointing fingers at lawmakers for creating a drag on business. In comments to Wall Street analysts during calls related to their quarterly earnings reports, more than two dozen executives fired off comments this week related to the business fallout caused by Washington lawmakers' inability to strike a deal on the debt ceiling, according to a scan of conference call transcripts involving companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index performed by Bespoke Investment Group. After reviewing the transcripts, which included comments from CEOs running businesses in key sectors such as health care, financial services, transportation, technology, utilities and industrials, "we found no shortage of executives blaming Washington for the uncertainty in the economy and business outlooks," says Bespoke's co-founder Paul Hickey. The criticisms flung at Washington centered around how the uncertainty and loss of confidence caused by the debt crisis has ushered in a cautious, wait-and-see mindset that has created "a drag on businesses." The executives told analysts that it is more difficult for them to plan, predict the future and close deals in the pipeline. For more details click here >>>