Memo to Obama: Class Warfare Always Loses

Congressman Paul Ryan has rightfully identified President Barack Obama’s deficit plan as the lead-up to class warfare. While Obama has suggested his plan isn’t class warfare, but rather “simple math,” you may recall that Wisconsin Democrats actually tried to incite class warfare when they attempted to recall three Republican representatives for voting for necessary budget cuts. Unions rallied around the state capitol for weeks accusing Governor... Read More

Obama Must Play ‘Big Ball,’ Not ‘Small Ball’

When the President of the United States plans to deliver what should be a landmark speech on job creation but has to change the timing so the speech doesn’t compete with a football game, you know he’s lost most of America. This is a sure signal that people are tuning out his oft repeated messages because they no longer believe he can change the course of this country’s unemployment. I read an interesting piece from a San Francisco journalist... Read More

Five Economic Solutions Obama Won’t Address

President Barack Obama once again will make his tired pronouncements about fixing the economy and creating jobs. Obama’s leadership on the economy has been about as sturdy as the faux Greek columns providing the backdrop to his acceptance speech in 2008. So, what should the president say and do? The quickest way to attack the crisis of confidence in our business community is by lowering taxes on our job creators. Obama believes when a company makes... Read More

Even Labor Unions Giving Up on Obama

In 2008, then AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in an interview: “I think that workers are angry and don’t think they’re getting a fair deal and are going to be very, very receptive to the Obama campaign.” The AFL-CIO got behind Obama in a big way deploying more than 250,000 volunteers that made millions of phone calls, distributed millions fliers that resulted in millions of dollars of contributions. That was then. This... Read More

Job Creation Starts With Skills Training

As the unemployment rate shows no sign of ebbing, the irony is that there are thousands of good paying job openings; unfortunately potential job candidates are woefully under trained. The term bandied about is the “skills gap” which refers to employees that lack those skill sets sought after by employers. For a stark illustration take a look at the relationship between unemployment and education. Among job seekers that lack a high school diploma,... Read More

Could George Washington Be Elected President in 2012?

With an angry, dispirited electorate looking to undermine the candidates of both parties even George Washington would have a hard time getting elected. I recently read some biographical information about George Washington and wondered how he would have fared in our current contentious congress and negative media coverage. He had several advantages: a lack of a 24-hour news cycle, no talk shows, a small group of eligible voters, and a reputation... Read More

The Damage Done in Losing Another Friend

After years of negotiating the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and an unprecedented move by Colombia to comply with a mumble-jumble of shifting American demands, President Barack Obama has sadly kept the U.S.-Colombia relation in a “deep freeze.” While Obama never fails to bend to the whims of American trade unions that see trade agreements as a threat instead of an opportunity, Colombia has rightfully lost patience with the U.S. This, after... Read More

Obama, Unions Are Holding US Jobs Hostage

As recently as April, it looked like President Barack Obama was ready to make good on his promise to double exports in five years. American trade unions, besieged and reeling from rapidly diminishing public support, appeared to be falling into line by removing their objections to three pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Obama made an incredible about-face and even praised these agreements that were originally signed by... Read More

‘Made in America’ Will Build Jobs in Great Comeback

For those pessimists who believe America has lost its global leadership in manufacturing and China is destined to dominate the world market, it’s time for them to eat a little crow. In fact, some economists are predicting that by 2015, the fully loaded costs involved in operating a manufacturing facility in the United States won’t only match that of China, but will actually be less costly and far more efficient. China’s reliance on cheap... Read More

Economic War Games: Coming Full Circle

It is ironic that as the U.S. Congress and public are starting to seriously re-evaluate the billions of dollars we send overseas for foreign aid and assistance, it was exactly 50 years ago that the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act was passed. The act was in response to the need to set parameters when supplying aid to developing countries. It was an outgrowth of the post-World War II Marshall Plan which found the U.S. rebuilding the very countries we had... Read More