American companies are hoarding cash—and slowing economic growth

American companies are sitting on a gold mine—or
a cold, hard cash mine to be exact:

Corporate America has so much cash sitting in the bank that it could purchase the Dallas Cowboys 437 times without borrowing a dime.

For what it's worth, the Dallas Cowboys were last evaluated to be worth more than $3 billion. All told, American companies are sitting on $1.7 TRILLION. Here's why the cash hoarding is bad for the economy:

The bad news is that at least some of these corporate giants still aren't willing to spend their cash on new equipment, new hires and new research. It would be a big economic boost if companies went on a spending spree. Shareholders would also like bigger dividends given all this cash companies have on hand.

There are a few bright spots:

Six sectors in the S&P 500 are projected to boost spending for the next 12 months, led by technology and health care.

Bloomberg News reports that the Affordable Care Act is actually unprecedented level of entrepreneurial activity: 

READ MORE