So you still think that the US is a good place to do business?

All the different regulations and higher tax rates are having a real impact on new stock listings. From the WSJ:

The steady decline in the number of stocks listed in the U.S. finally reached the point this year where both of the nation's big stock exchanges took dramatic action—NYSE Euronext agreeing to a foreign takeover, and then Nasdaq OMX Group trying unsuccessfully to bust that up and take over the NYSE itself.

A combination of mergers, fewer U.S. IPOs, lower listing costs abroad and a shift in how investors and stockbrokers do their jobs has driven down the number of U.S. stock listings by a startling 43% since the peak in 1997—all during a period when the number of listings outside the U.S. has more than doubled.

The result is some 3,800 fewer companies trade on the U.S. exchanges today than in 1997, according to consulting firm Capital Markets Advisory Partners. Abroad, there are nearly eight times as many listings as in the U.S., with Hong Kong, China and India among the leading venues. . . .