Unleash business, Mr. President

I spoke with a friend recently who had fallen on tough times. He was prepared to work. He has skills that would benefit a potential employer.
But he was unable to find a job. He has little money. And, although I know that his current situation is at least partly his own doing, it’s sad and frustrating to see ambition and skills be wasted in professional torpor.
I read not long ago that businesses in the United States are literally sitting on trillions of dollars that could be invested, but they’ve decided instead to keep the money in the bank, because they’re uncertain about the future economic environment in which they will operate. In particular, they are concerned about what may happen to their costs if and when the more serious and costly of the next phases of the new healthcare legislation.
They are concerned about the costs of compliance current and future regulations. They see that a project like Keystone, which promises at least 20,000 new jobs and probably a far higher impact on indirect employment, has been shelved till – what? – after the 2012 election? Come on!
There is no real secret to what ails us – get businesses in America back onto the playing field. Provide a tax and regulatory environment in which they’re encouraged to take reasonable risks with their capital. Reduce taxes and let them keep more of their earnings.
They will hire to obtain the resources to make money for themselves, rest assured. The lure of making money is an elixir on which we can always count.
Stop the crony capitalism that picks business winners and losers by the criterion of who they know, and not what they know.
Allow businesses that habitually underperform because of uncompetitive quality or costs to fail.
Start telling the truth about the real unemployment rate. Adjust for reported reductions in unemployment simply because the chronically unemployed have stopped looking. Include the impact of underemployment in the monthly reporting, where many of those who have found new jobs are working part-time, for vastly lower salaries than their previous jobs.
Chronic unemployment or underemployment cannot help but affect the individual, and collectively ourselves. It is a putrid stain on the soul. It can and must be exorcised, by the still-powerful engine of economic growth currently dormant in our nation.
Atlas has shrugged. He’s sitting on the sidelines, watching and waiting. Let’s get him back in the game.


Jerry LaVaute is a special writer for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at glavaute@gmail.com or call 1-734-740-0062.