President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress hit the ground running in 2009 with efforts to put the economy back on track. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act offered a smorgasbord of tax and spending initiatives and some of them, such as an increase in the direct expensing allowance and the extension of the bonus depreciation, will help manufacturers’ agents that sell machinery to represent their manufacturers.

Now, we expect Congress to settle into a routine of dealing with issues in the “regular order.” For manufacturers’ agents, the remaining public policy agenda presents opportunities and threats.

On the positive side … Read the rest