Republican congressmen who attended the "frosty" meeting rolled their eyes when Mr. Obama told them federal income tax rates now are the lowest they've ever been, lower even than during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

This was less untrue than, say, Mr. Obama's claims for the Chrysler bailout. For most of the Reagan presidency income tax rates were higher than they are now because Reagan inherited very high rates from Jimmy Carter.

But it still was untrue. When Ronald Reagan left office, there were just two income tax rates, 15 percent for those making less than $17,850 and 28 percent for those earning more than that. Today there are six rates, with the highest bracket paying 35 percent on income more than $379,150.

It's a poor idea to raise taxes during a recession. But what's really killing the economy is an orgy of new federal regulations that saddle private sector employers with enormous costs and great uncertainty. The worst is Obamacare, but there are many others, such as new banking regulations which punish small banks for what the big banks did to contribute to the financial meltdown in 2008, and new fishing regulations which may wipe out the commercial fishing industry.

Businesses must spend more than $1.75 trillion each year to comply with federal regulations, according to a report issued in April by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. But it's the uncertainty they cause that contributes more to unemployment.

Stephen Carter, a law professor at Yale, sat next to a corporate CEO on a flight to Minneapolis. Demand for his product was up despite the recession, the CEO told Mr. Carter, but he refuses to hire new workers. Mr. Carter asked him why.

"Because I don't know how much it will cost," he explains. "How can I hire new workers today when I don't know how much they will cost me tomorrow?"