America’s Ex-Im Bank Is Needed To Compete

With all the barriers stacked up against American entrepreneurs, a bright spot has been access to working capital through the Export-Import Bank, which is essential if American exporters are to compete in the global marketplace. Ex-Im provides working capital guarantees, insurance and direct loans to American manufacturers, helping to open new foreign markets that allow the U.S. economy to grow, while creating good-paying jobs. Yet some in Congress are leaning toward not reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank. A vote is scheduled for September. As an independent, self-sustaining agency of the federal government, Ex-Im Bank has an 80-year record of supporting U.S. jobs by financing the exports of American goods and services. By doing so, the Ex-Im Bank has supported 1.2 million private-sector... Read More

Shutting Down Ex-Im Bank Punishes American Entrepreneurs and Job Seekers

With all the barriers stacked up against American entrepreneurs, a bright spot has been access to working capital through the Export-Import Bank, which is essential if American exporters are to compete in the global marketplace. Ex-Im provides working capital guarantees, insurance and direct loans to American manufacturers, helping to open new foreign markets that allow the U.S. economy to grow, while creating good-paying jobs. Yet some in Congress are leaning toward not reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank. A vote is scheduled for September. As an independent, self-sustaining agency of the federal government, Ex-Im Bank has an 80-year record of supporting U.S. jobs by financing the exports of American goods and services. By doing so, the Ex-Im Bank has supported 1.2 million private-sector... Read More

An Attack on Intellectual Property Is an Attack on US Business

While the Washington Redskins trademark and logos are the source of heated debate, we seem to have ignored the fact that the team’s intellectual property belongs to them, as granted by the U.S. government dating back more than 80 years. Therefore, the U.S Patent and Trademark Office’s decision to revoke the trademark is an attack on intellectual property and the start of a slippery slope for businesses trying to protect their property rights. This is all about ideology, and not about the legality of a trademark. Does this mean that as a business owner I have to look over my shoulder for fear that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can void my intellectual property at any moment? Can the government now decide on a whim what trademarks are offensive? What powerful force... Read More

Obama Strikes Out on Asian Trade Negotiations

A metaphor for President Obama’s recent trip to Asia was the widely aired game of soccer he had with a Japanese robot. In essence, Japan made Obama kick the impending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — which unites 12 economies around the Pacific Rim — down the road as trade talks stalled. How important is TPP to American trade? The Peterson Institute for International Economics projects that it could cause American exports to rise by $123.5 billion per year by 2025. With it would come millions of U.S. jobs. Once again, Obama set out to negotiate a trade agreement only to come back empty handed. He seemed to be disinterested and distracted. It says volumes about his lack of experience in foreign trade and tough negotiations. That never stops him from making huge pronouncements... Read More

Job Creation Stymied as Obama Strikes Out on Asian Trade Negotiations

A metaphor for President Obama’s recent trip to Asia was the widely aired game of soccer he had with a Japanese robot. In essence, Japan made Obama kick the impending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — which unites 12 economies around the Pacific Rim — down the road as trade talks stalled. How important is TPP to American trade? The Peterson Institute for International Economics projects that it could cause American exports to rise by $123.5 billion per year by 2025. With it would come millions of U.S. jobs. Once again, Obama set out to negotiate a trade agreement only to come back empty handed. He seemed to be disinterested and distracted. It says volumes about his lack of experience in foreign trade and tough negotiations. That never stops him from making huge pronouncements... Read More

Another Roadblock to Capital for Entrepreneurs

Access to capital is the lifeblood of a small business if it wants to grow and hire. Yet, increasingly the U.S. government puts roadblocks in front of entrepreneurs who, with a little financial help today, could be tomorrow’s Apple. For example, let’s take Dodd-Frank, which is forcing our community banks out of business. For more than a hundred years, community banks have been the economic drivers for small business, communities and the nation. But they have been replaced by megabanks that are getting bigger, fueled by the flawed perception that they are “too big to fail.” Our community banks have just 12 percent of all banking assets, compared with megabanks’ 70 percent. The real tragedy is when community banks fail, local businesses no longer have access... Read More

Exports Must Be Freed From Partisan Politics

I am a die-hard advocate for supporting U.S. exports, so it concerns me that exports have been taken hostage during the ongoing Congressional infighting. Exports are vital, considering that more than 38 million American jobs depend on trade. One in three manufacturing jobs depends on exports, and one in three acres on American farms is planted for hungry consumers overseas. U.S. exports set another record in 2012, growing 4.4 percent ($66 billion) and reaching $1.56 trillion, despite significant economic headwinds from abroad. So we should all be concerned about the latest Congressional battle revolving around granting President Obama fast track negotiating authority, or trade promotion authority (TPA), which gives the president the authority to negotiate international agreements... Read More

Obama Is Manufacturing His Manufacturing Numbers

Most presidents surround themselves with cabinet and staff members who have the skill sets required to handle the daunting tasks that they face each day. President Obama has taken a different approach. He hires fiction writers. If you spend any time looking at the unemployment numbers, for example, the Obama administration puts the national unemployment rate at just under 7 percent. That sounds very manageable, unless you take into account the 11 million Americans who have dropped out of the labor force and are no longer actively seeking a job. Conveniently, they aren’t accounted for in the unemployment numbers. If you counted them, the unemployment rate would be near 16 percent. So the Obama fiction writers understand that if you can’t actually improve the economy, you... Read More

American Trade Policy Stuck in Neutral

For a president who vowed to double exports in five years, you have to wonder why President Obama has been unable to make any progress in expanding U.S. trade. This week, Obama met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to reaffirm their support for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) estimates has grown the U.S. economy from roughly $290 billion in 1993 to more than $1.1 trillion in 2012. Today, according to the CFR, the United States trades more in goods and services with Mexico and Canada than it does with Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. So it would make all kinds of economic sense for the United States to support NAFTA. Except if you are in the Obama... Read More

Taking Free Trade for Granted

Here in the United States we take free trade for granted. We have access to markets throughout the world, but most of us think nothing of it. We have grown accustomed to the goods and services that make our life easier. Yet, in the Ukraine, access to free markets has been stomped on by Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych, who has decided that forming a union with Russia is preferred over a relationship with the European Union. The result is that Ukrainians have taken to the streets in protest and imperiled their lives for the right to have access to free markets. They recognize that the Western world not only brings with it superior goods and services, they also see democracy in action, which terrifies the governments of Ukraine and Russia. We should not be surprised that news reports... Read More