Ohio unemployment rate has hovered around 10% for the last six months and has been devastating to many families as one or both income earners have been terminated from their places of employment.  The causes of the current situation are not new and have been building over the last two administrations, but the resolutions are being hindered by the current Washington plans and operations.

There can be little argument that international trade agreements such as NAFTA, CAFTA, and a host of single nation pacts have lead to the outsourcing of jobs to cheap labor, lack of labor laws, and lax environmental regulations overseas.  The refusal of both Parties to secure our borders has allowed a multitude of illegal immigrants to swarm into our Nation and take jobs originally held by Americans.  The Republican Party constantly approved increases in the number of H1-B visas which resulted in the loss of engineering, accounting, legal, and medical opportunities for American citizens.  And finally a Tax Code which reportedly establishes the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world which directly and /or indirectly supports the outsourcing of jobs to overseas accounts and strips away the heart and soul of our country’s lifeline – the middle class.

The current Administration, and its controlling Party, is hindering the opportunity for jobs growth through the policies they have adopted and continue to push towards enactment.  Historically, small business has been the champion of job creation and typically employees 80% of the workforce.  To do so all business owners must have confidence in the future and be able to predict their ongoing costs to ensure profitability.  It is always difficult to project future sales and income – a key to stability.  But in today’s environment it is impossible to predict their ongoing labor costs which make them very reluctant to establish the commitments necessary for potential employment growth.

The uncertainty in business and labor costs come from unknown, but projected, changes in the Tax Code along with unknown health care costs; the Democratic Party’s desire to end the Bush tax cuts; cost of energy increases due to Cap-and-Trade which greatly affect the business’s bottom line; and their push for Card Check to garner the Union support could create enormous swings in labor costs for small business.  The inability of the business owner to secure operational bank loans due to the Administrations talk of more regulations and increased bank taxes are not conducive to the support all small businesses rely upon.  The continued promulgation of federal regulations because Congress will not reign in the efforts of federal bureaucrats with their oversight responsibility places all business owners at risk of legal entanglements. 

No business owner can make comfortable decisions for future employment with such ambiguity clouding business growth.  Hiring new employees in such an environment can lead to difficult financial times for the business and/or short term employment for the new hire – which does not benefit anyone long term.

To stimulate job growth we must:
• Reduce the corporate tax rate,
• Extend the tax cuts which are scheduled to end soon,
• Eliminate the confusion surrounding health care,
• Reduce the number of H1-B  visas,
• Reduce labor regulations ,
• Secure the border,
• Stop Cap-and-Trade and,
• Promote lending credit lines for day-to-day operational needs and inventory builds,
• Prevent Card Check legislation.