From the Wall Street Journal:
Rather than pouring their money into building plants or hiring workers, nonfinancial companies in the U.S. were sitting on $1.93 trillion in cash and other liquid assets at the end of September, up from $1.8 trillion at the end of June, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Cash accounted for 7.4% of the companies' total assets—the largest share since 1959.
Here's what should really concern people.
The buildup has a big downside for companies, which get little return on their money because interest rates are low, but it reflects the relatively few opportunities they see to deploy their cash more creatively.
This tells me that the return on investing in capital or hiring workers is lower than even near-zero-interest-rate investments. With the expiration of the Bush tax cuts looming, the uncertainty surrounding the cost of employment under ObamaCare, and the uncertainty of the regulatory environment, it's understandable why businesses "hoard" and "cling to" their cash (to use rhetorical terms given in the article) and not invest in their businesses.