Obama Declares War on Coal and Jobs

If there was a commodity that brings $16 billion to the American economy through exports and directly and indirectly employs around 1.5 million American workers, this would be a commodity that would naturally be supported by everyone. That commodity is coal — which is not supported by at least one group: the Obama administration, which has literally declared war on the American coal industry, and the jobs that come with it. Last week the Obama administration proposed new measures that will force new electricity generation plants to cut CO2 emissions by 50 per cent and also mandate investment in unaffordable technologies to bury carbon emissions underground. The new proposals would also set the stage for existing coal burning plants to come under the same arrogant EPA mandate whereby compliance... Read More

Compromised Secrets Compromise Job Creation

Secrets are a trust between individuals and groups. They play a role in security and building sustainable relationships. But when secrets are compromised, trust is the victim. There have been two recent situations where secrets are being compromised — both of which will compromise job creation. The first surrounds the supposed secret deliberations by the Supreme Court over Obamacare. The cost of implementation and compliance with a government controlled healthcare system will be staggering. The estimates escalate each time another layer of regulation is peeled back. Ultimately, this heavy burden will be passed on to American businesses in the form of higher insurance premiums and taxes. The consequence is that companies are not hiring new employees and will start reducing staff to afford... Read More

Obama Counting on Rising Oil Prices to Fuel His Green Movement

Talking about oil prices is like moving through an avalanche zone. One loud outcry and the whole thing collapses. That’s what has happened with our saber rattling over Iran. Gasoline prices are rapidly rising attributed to uncertainty about Iran and the loss of Iranian oil supplies to the world market or a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil, or about 20 percent of total world production, flow each day. Already, the national average price of regular unleaded gasoline today is $3.76, an 8-cent increase from last week. According to AAA, Florida’s average of $3.79 and Georgia’s average of $3.70 both increased 5 cents from last week. Tennessee’s average price of $3.59 rose 3 cents from last week. Yes, Iran poses a problem for the U.S. on many fronts,... Read More

Manufacturing Needs to be Remanufactured

Nationwide, an estimated 600,000 manufacturing jobs are going unfilled, according to a survey published last year by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute. The survey found 5 percent of current manufacturing jobs are unfilled due to lack of qualified candidates, 67 percent of manufacturers have a moderate to severe shortage of qualified workers, and 56 percent expect the shortage to increase in the next three to five years as older workers retire. Most of these unfilled jobs are in the skilled production category — positions such as machinists, operators, craft workers, logistics managers and technicians. How did the U.S. manufacturing industry – historically and currently the worldwide leader in manufacturing — lose its mojo? (Yes, the United States is the largest manufacturing country... Read More

Obama’s Failed Energy Policy Has Fueled Dismal Job Creation

In his State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama again gave lip service to a national energy policy. And again, nothing has happened, or will happen. From the very beginning of his administration, he has failed to grasp the realities of America’s 21st century energy requirements and their relationship to jobs and the economy. Now rising oil prices (the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline has jumped 13.1 cents to $3.518 in the past month, according to auto club AAA) comes at a bad time – just when companies are starting to hire. Manufacturers face lower profit margins as they pay more to get their products to market and face higher costs for plastics and other petroleum-based materials. And higher prices at the pump force consumers to cut spending on discretionary items... Read More

A Wealth Gap or a Crisis of Confidence?

Winston Churchill once wrote: “You don’t make the poor richer by making the rich poorer.” If he were sitting in the House chamber during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, Churchill would have been flabbergasted by the contention that a “wealth gap” was the cause of the nation’s woes. It’s not a wealth gap that is slowing recovery – it’s a crisis of confidence in Obama’s ability to lead the nation. Some of history’s most accomplished leaders, like Churchill, got their inspiration from time honored thought leaders and statesmen. In his State of the Union Address, Obama got his inspiration from the Occupy movement, and catered to this largely discredited group. This agenda is fraught with peril. It is clear that rather than face the lingering... Read More

Five Hot Spots That Have Obama Running Scared

As we race toward the November election, you can be sure that President Barack Obama and his disciples will be ticking off his perceived accomplishments in his bid to win re-election. He will attempt to position himself as the tax-cutting, regulation-busting friend of small business. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If you listen closely, he will side-step the priorities he failed to accomplish in his three years in office, and won’t accomplish in 2012. They all have one thing in common: They are needed like blood to resuscitate a hemorrhaging economy where flat lining job creation is beyond the hope of recovery anytime soon. Here are the five issues he must address to create jobs but will fail to act on. 1. Using tax reform as a competitive advantage When a company spends... Read More

US Has Its Work Cut Out in Revamping Tax Code

If you spent 6.1 billion hours doing something, you would think you would have created something most ingenious. Ironically, that’s how much time American taxpayers spent this year fumbling through stacks of confusing IRS forms. Americans spend about $300 billion a year in tax-preparation costs traversing a mind-bursting 3.4 million word tax code. The net effect of this archaic tax system is not only its compliance cost, but it ultimately punishes companies for being successful and discourages them from hiring. Taxing our corporations and businesses is a giant hoax. Taxes and tax related costs paid by our companies are simply passed on to the consumer. Those being impacted most from corporate taxes are the poor who have less to spend. The best way to protect the poor (and the middle... Read More

5 Things That Must Happen in 2010 To Spur American Entrepreneurship: The Year of Engagement

Although encouraged by President Obama’s pledge during the State of the Union Address to double exports and open up new markets, we are not seeing any progress toward meeting these critical objectives. I wish he was being sidetracked by job creation –but that is not the case either.  Once again the Obama administration has failed to understand that the key to stabilizing the economy and job creation rests with supporting the nation’s entrepreneurs, especially small business exporters.  As a public service, let me humbly suggest that there are five initiatives that must be considered in 2010 to move this country forward. 1) Pass the three pending Free Trade Agreements Did you know that for every dollar invested in exports by small and mid-size companies  through export... Read More

Recovery Cover Up: Temp Jobs

When talking about truth, are we really going to believe that jobs are being created because the economy added 162,000 jobs in March? The truth is that most of those jobs were temporary positions with the Census Bureau. Those aren’t jobs. Those are federal paid internships. And by this fall, those jobs will disappear. You know what other jobs will be disappearing? State jobs, because states need to shed workers to deal with huge budget deficits. Already in March, state and local governments shed 9,000 jobs. Come on folks, the government doesn’t create jobs. We all know that private-sector temporary jobs won’t become permanent unless employers see steady economic growth. And that’s not something we’ve seen with the ineffective stimulus plan. We all know the solution. We talk about... Read More