Here's Evidence That The GOP Is Not 'Pro-Business' Anymore

For being widely known as "pro-business," Republicans sure are making life hard for businesses lately.

For decades, Republican opposition to taxes and government regulation has matched the financial interests of big businesses. As a result, corporate America has kept the campaign contributions flowing toward conservative think tanks and politicians.

But the love affair between business owners and Republicans is clearly waning, particularly with the economy reeling from GOP-backed austerity measures and the disastrous government shutdown.

Don't believe us? Let's let some of America's largest companies speak for themselves:

Walmart was forced to trim year-end sales estimates because of cuts to the food-stamp program, cuts that were forced by the Republican party.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin plans to slash 4,000 jobs because of government spending cuts championed by the GOP.

Cisco CEO John Chambers recently said the government shutdown "exasperated" the already low confidence of business leaders, hurting the company's quarterly results. Most Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown happening in the first place.

Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine also said his store's bottom line was impacted by the government shutdown, which caused Americans to totally freak out about the strength of the economy.

Discount retailers like Target and Dollar General were hampered by January's payroll-tax hike -- a measure largely supported by the Republican party.

More broadly, business leaders could not be more frustrated with the Tea Party, which many say has been bad for business.

To put all these GOP shenanigans into perspective, austerity has cost the economy more than 2 million jobs, according to some measures.

And Republican spending policies may have cut U.S. economic growth in half this year.

Despite GOP claims that government spending is out of control, U.S. public investment is actually at its lowest point since 1948.

So at the end of the day, cuts to government spending are making it nearly impossible for U.S. companies to recover from the last financial crisis.

Oh, and by the way, for all those who thought Obama and his "socialist" agenda would drive the economy into the ground, let's be clear: The stock market has more than doubled since he took office in 2009.