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  rescinded a valid clean water permit for a coal mine...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.