September 28, 2011
Jobs and the U.S Economy
The President created the now-famous “Council on Jobs and Competitiveness” to explore why the jobless rate is so high in America, and what can be done about it. Their stated mission is:
“The Council on Competitiveness is the only group of corporate CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders committed to the future prosperity of all Americans and enhanced U.S. competitiveness in the global economy”
The council is headed by the CEO of GE, Jeffrey R. Immelt. GE is a mega-corporation most of whose product lines are made, supplied, or assembled outside the U.S. GE has been in the news lately about returning some of those jobs back to the U.S., but guess what? Only in areas where the government will pay them to do so (with tax incentives, etc) which constitutes only a tiny percentage of the overall outsourcing.
Then we have a couple reps from the major labor unions which in my opinion are probably one of the biggest problems in job creation in America today. Labor unions are notorious for their single-minded anti-ownership anti-management views. American products are priced uncompetitively high in union shops just to cover the demands made by the unions who want basically all-or-nothing for their members.
We have a couple of members representing academia, none of whom has ever been in a position to start/run/operate a business, yet all of whom consider themselves business experts. ” Those who can, do…those who can’t, are in academia.”
Then we have several members like John Doerr and Steve Case who, on the surface, may look like good business advisors because of their past entrepreneurial experiences and successes. But here’s the thing about entrepreneurs…if they are wonderfully successful, as these are, they morph into “big business”; once their little businesses hit it big, their focus changes from running the business to running the board of directors. I believe it would be fair to say that any entrepreneur who can claim to be on one or more boards of directors is too far removed from the business operation to be a reliable business advisor.
Then we have a couple of members representing….are you ready?….the financial industry. That’s right; the folks who brought all this misery into our lives are now advising our President on how to recover from the mess they created. That’s just sarcastically wonderful.
So, from a logical perspective, then, who SHOULD comprise this council on job creation and competitiveness? The people responsible for 60%-75% of ALL jobs in America; the people who represent 97% of all hiring companies in America; the people who represent 70% of the tax revenue generated by businesses in America. Who are these people? People like Darlene Miller…America’s small business owners. While most of the council members are advocating outsourcing of American jobs, America’s small business owners are busy keeping America’s economy afloat. We should be de-regulating them and untaxing them and asking them for help, but our President seems to want to ignore them and tax them into oblivion.
So, when President Obama creates a council to create jobs in America, and improve competitiveness in America, who does he reach out to? He reaches out to the people who represent the problems in America…the guys who outsource American jobs to foreign countries. The guys who teach business but who have never run a business. The guys who fight management rather than work to improve management. The guys who created the mess we are in.
What does this say about our President and his view on American job creation? It says he is totally unaware of what drives our economy and who hires our workers. He is turning to the wrong people for the wrong answers. And then he blames other people when the problems become worse or don’t resolve. It is really sad President Obama is so adept at making speeches about America’s economic problems, but then goes and hires the exact wrong set of people to advise him on these problems.
My advice, plain and simple: get rid of the council of idiots and instead, show Americans that you are serious about job creation by creating a council of successful small business owners like Darlene Miller (the only small business member on the council) to advise you. And then, do what they say. Problem solved!
