Earlier this week General Motors CEO Dan Akerson was a guest on Kai Ryssdal’s show on Marketplace radio. Mr. Akerson discussed the current economic environment for manufacturers in the U.S. and reiterated how the uncertainty from Washington is impacting the decision making of businesses.

Excerpt from the interview:

“There is hesitancy if you will, on a corporate perspective. What are the rules that by which we operate so we can get the engine started and we can progress down the road? Right now we are standing at a red or yellow light saying, “OK, when and how do we proceed and what’s the speed limit?” I think it goes back to the initial part of our discussion that uncertainty it drives people like me and our team here at General Motors to distraction, and it’s not a particularly pleasant experience to try to guess what is the environment going to be a year or two down the road.”

The Philadelphia Fed report released yesterday provided more evidence that manufacturing growth is continuing to slow after leading the economic recovery. Manufacturers need policies that will create certainty so they can begin to create jobs and turn around the economic recovery.