Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, addressed a group at a chamber forum regarding American businesses. His words packed a punch, to be sure. He’s quoted as saying, among other things, “Congress…must recognize our weak economy simply could not sustain all the new taxes, regulations and mandates now being considered…that would be a sure-fire recipe for a double-dip recession or worse. We could get back into a mess that makes this recession look like chump change.”
Clearly Donohue is fired up; but then again, that’s exactly what many of us have been waiting for: someone to step up to the plate and dress some folks down. Donohue also said 20 million jobs can be created over the next decade by doubling exports over the next sixty months, followed by another redoubling effort. Other suggestions include rebuilding the American infrastructure, investing in nuclear energy, expand credit and find definitive solutions for proposed tax increases found in health, environmental, labor and fiscal policies.
Sounds like a solid plan. A. Harrison Barnes, career coach and founder of EmploymentCrossing.com, agrees and says the key was always in addressing the double digit unemployment numbers. It’s a cycle; working Americans buy things from stores that hire people to run them and generate not only profits, but tax revenue as well. Another solution that would benefit everyone, including small business owners, is to keep tax rates where they are. Proposed tax hikes will force many to close their business which would surely result in bigger deficits and that, of course, leads to bigger economic problems.
Donohue didn’t stop with American businesses. He took quite a vocal stand on education saying, “No economy or society can succeed over the long run if it allows thirty percent of its young people to drop out of high school.” He says it “tears away at the fabric of the American dream”. This is especially true when the vast majority of the jobs found on EmploymentCrossing.com call for, at a minimum, high school diplomas. Those who don’t complete high school have always been at a disadvantage, but a tight job market only highlights those disadvantages. Statistically speaking, many of us don’t return to college until we’re well into our adulthoods, have or are currently raising families and many are already established in a career. Without a high school diploma or equivalency, that possibility is simply not an option.
Donohue is not alone with his sentiments, while A. Harrison Barnes agrees the lion’s share of the solution is to increase employment opportunities, Richard Trumka, current president of the AFL-CIO supports the approval from Congress, expected to come up in April, that makes it easier for employees to form unions. Trumka addressed the National Press Club in early January and said, “I think you’ll see the Employee Free Choice Act pass in the first quarter of 2010.” No doubt big changes are coming, it’s just a matter of whose predictions come full circle; at any rate, regardless of how we define the right solutions, we all have the same end result in mind.
