President Barack Obama asked business leaders last week exactly what it is about his policies that has them so fretful. He asked for specifics, and that's what he got. If he bothers to read the concerns and act to ease them, he may at last find some traction for his faltering drive to revive the economy.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce responded to the president's request with a detailed letter outlining what his administration has done to hurt business, and suggested some remedies.

As you might imagine, taxes topped the chamber's list of grievances. Noting that Congress has passed $700 billion in tax increases, the business group asked that all of the tax cuts adopted in 2001 be extended. Congress and the White House aren't sure which of the cuts they'll allow to expire at the end of the year, and that has contributed to an increasingly uncertain environment for investors.

The Washington Post reported that Fortune 500 companies are sitting on $2 trillion in cash that ought to be going into economic development, but isn't because the corporations are worried about the future tax and regulatory climate.

In its letter to Obama, the chamber said the uncertainty isn't just a gut feeling, but is rooted in the reality that Washington is on a regulatory binge, citing a "tsunami of regulations" now coming into force. The letter cited as an example the 29 major economic rules moving through the Environmental Protection Agency with the potential negative impact on business of at least $100 million each.

Most worrisome to the business leaders is the financial-markets regulation passed last week. In effect, it's a shell bill, leaving at least 350 rules to be decided by regulators.

The compliance costs alone, banking executives say, will force smaller banks to merge with larger institutions, making the too-big-to-fail banks even more dominant.

The chamber also asked Obama to move on his pledge to complete trade deals with Columbia, South Korea and Panama, and to cut the deficit by expanding logging in national forests and reviving inactive leases on oil, gas and shale reserves.

There's no way to predict whether Obama will heed the advice. He has been remarkably stubborn in his resistance to the possibility that the private sector could lead the recovery. At a recent White House meeting that included former President Bill Clinton and several top business leaders, the conversation was about boosting the economy through a new federal home weatherization program — hardly the solution business is looking for.

But the fact that business groups are starting to find their voice in pointing out the economic consequences of the Obama agenda is encouraging. Americans must be made aware of the real harm that can be done by over-regulation. And the president should understand the damage he's doing to consumer and investor confidence with his relentless demonizing of major industries. Regulations matter, but rhetoric does, too.

The president needs business as a full participant in the economic recovery. If he'd spend more time listening and less time haranguing, they might find a way to work together to create real jobs.

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