Or we could quit acting like starting a business in the
U.S. is really just like starting a business in a country
run by a junta

The US is obviously a much better place to start a business than a Latin American dictatorship. However, the question is whether it's a more stable environment than, say, Singapore. Here are a few links that I know weigh heavily on the minds of people who think like me; you might believe we should weigh them less, but these are governmental decisions that arguably do increase the unpredictability of doing business in the US.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/chryslers-holdout-len...

In a long document filed Sunday evening, Chrysler asked a
judge to approve a sale of most of its assets and some of
its liabilities for $2 billion to an entity formed by Fiat,
the United Auto Workers’ retirement trust and the United
States and Canadian governments.

But in Monday’s objection, a group of debt holders advised
by the law firm White & Case criticized the proposal as too
rushed, arguing that it was unreasonable to rule on the
merits of the sale on “15 hours’ notice.”

Moreover, they said the sale was really a reorganization
plan in disguise — one that flouts the basic rules about
which creditors get priority under the federal bankruptcy
code. The proposed sale attempts to put social goals ahead
of bankruptcy law, and should not be approved, the
objection said.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline#Keystone_XL

The Keystone XL extension was proposed in 2008.[6] The
application was filed in September 2008 and the National
Energy Board of Canada started hearings in September 2009.
[16] On March 11, 2010 the Canadian National Energy Board
approved the project.[2][3][17] The South Dakota Public
Utilities Commission granted a permit on February 19, 2010.
[18]

On July 21, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency said
the draft environmental impact study for Keystone XL was
inadequate and should be revised...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/science/earth/14coal.html?...

The Environmental Protection Agency revoked the permit for
one of the nation’s largest mountaintop-removal coal mining
projects on Thursday, saying the mine would have done
unacceptable damage to rivers, wildlife and communities in
West Virginia. It was the first time the agency had
rescinded a valid clean water permit for a coal mine...

Environmentalists welcomed Thursday’s decision. But the
mining company and politicians in West Virginia expressed
fury, saying the action was an unprecedented federal
intrusion, an economic catastrophe for the state and a
dangerous precedent for all regulated industries.

http://mobihealthnews.com/6932/interview-the-iphone-medical-...

Did MIMvista ever make it into the AppStore?

Mobile MIM was available at the launch of the App Store.
The app was free and included sample patients for people to
try it out for themselves.

Why did MIMvista remove the app from the store? (or was it
forced out?)

In August of 2008, we submitted our first 510(k). ... To
be honest, this dramatically new direction for our
company, and the speed at which it occurred, left us ill-
prepared for the scope of the regulatory process that would
unfold. Within only a few weeks of submitting, we were
contacted by the FDA and told that our app could not be on
the app store (despite the fact that it was both free and
labeled as “not intended for diagnostic use”) because it
served as marketing for a device that was not cleared for
marketing. We promptly removed it.

Then, over the next few months, we discovered that our
proposed device raised more questions than we had
anticipated. In order to make their determination, the FDA
wanted more information than we had provided. The process
stalled out as we reviewed what we would have to do next.
This 510(k) was declared not substantially equivalent (NSE)
because of insufficient data.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/story...

The Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday sued
the maker of the popular magnetic desk toy Buckyballs to
stop the sale of the product because of the risks posed to
children...

Responding to a request for comment, the company sent a
press release headlined, "CPSC: Thank you for trying to
drive a $50 million New York-based consumer product company
out of business." Buckyballs and Buckycubes are Maxfield &
Oberton's sole products; 2.5 million sets have been sold
since 2009.

One can go on in this vein. These stories did happen. You may or may not agree that they are happening at an increasing rate; you may or may not agree that this increase is statistically significant. But the perception is indeed that the US is becoming a much more unpredictable place to do business.