Cantor: Obama’s Attacks on Bain Will Dampen Business Investment

Regardless of what impact the Obama campaign’s criticism of Bain Capital has on the presidential election, it may discourage business investment, says House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

"I’m thinking about when we were talking with the president about politics and wanting to provide an incentive for entrepreneurs and investors to put capital at risk, because that’s what’s hurting right now,” Cantor said on CNBC, reports The Hill.

“We don’t have enough people with confidence to put capital at risk right now. We don’t have people who are willing to seek a loan from a bank and take that risk, because they hear the hostility coming from the White House."

President Barack Obama simply doesn’t understand American capitalism, Cantor said. "My experience with the president has demonstrated he either has no appreciation for our free market economy or is just intent on maligning those who have been too successful in his mind."

With the attack on Bain, Obama is pushing the idea that the government should choose the economy’s winners and losers, Cantor said. "I don't think it's for the president to decide, as long as there is legal activity, which profit is good and which profit is not,” he said.

“If it's illegal behavior, we ought to stamp it out. But if there is legal behavior, the White House or anyone in Washington shouldn't be determining who should have a profit and who shouldn't."

A capitalist economy creates winners and losers naturally, Cantor says. "That's business, and that's free markets, where there is always the likelihood of failure as well as success. That's the fundamental discussion here, whether you're going to accept the fact that America does value people who want to go take a risk."