It's widely perceived that the massive and ongoing changes in the business environment have caused a lot of companies to effectively freeze or cut back until they see how it all plays out (note that one has also got to be concerned about second order and so on effects, that which trashes you may also be trashing your customers, your customers' customers, etc.).
Even the left is starting to acknowledge it; from the site run by the guy who helped to expose the polling firm that was scamming the Daily Kos, the last paragraph of an essay on "Why Aren't Businesses Hiring?":
"Uncertainty: there has been a tremendous amount of change over the last 12 months. Businesses are still trying to figure out what that means for their bottom line. Until there are firm answers, they will freeze hiring."
Fred Wilson recently discussed "Currency Risk In A Business" (http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/07/currency-risk-in-a-business.... which was submitted to HN but seems to have disappeared). However, it looks like hedging that will get a lot more expensive: WSJ: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22facing+higher+retiree+heal...)
Which as the WSJ editorial notes "If hedging currency risk becomes too expensive, companies may shift more jobs to countries where the purchases occur, matching their revenues to expenses in the same currency.", in alignment with Fred's comments that "It is ideal to have your foreign currency denominated expenses and revenues be as close to each other as possible. Because if you can do that, they are a natural hedge."
so that consumers don't get punished in the end with new fees and higher costs
The degree to which this is true depends on the products involved. It all turns on the elasticity of demand for that product. Basically, if you're unlikely to significantly curtail your usage of -- e.g., oil or tobacco -- then the consumer will bear the brunt of any tax increase to the business. But if it's related to products that you're more inclined to put off a purchase due to price sensitivity, then the taxes will tend to come out of corporate profits.