What federal regulations have been enacted in the last three years that have been documented to have killed jobs? That was the question I asked a Washington Post reporter yesterday when she called. She was doing a story on the U.S. Chamber’s complaint about “job-killing” regulations. In response to my question…
Hire a vet
This past Friday President Obama challenged business and industry to hire and train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses before 2014. The President pointed out that there are one million unemployed veterans today with a 13.3% jobless rate for post 9/11 veterans. To move the challenge along, the President has…
Transparency needed in government procurement
Two U.S. House Committees held a joint hearing yesterday on a potential executive order from the Obama Administration that will try to make sure government contracts are not being awarded because of campaign contributions. This is a seriously important issue for every small business that would like to provide goods…
Free speech that will cost all of us
Transparency in government. That was probably the issue that helped Nikki Haley the most in winning the South Carolina Governor’s election last November. Who could be against transparency? Who doesn’t want to make sure that government decisions are being made for the good of the taxpayers and not for the…
Create jobs here, not there
When I heard that President Obama was going to address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and all the news commentators said that it was his effort to get back in the good graces of the business community, I cringed. The U.S. Chamber doesn’t represent the business community. It represents the…
Big-business hooker
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission released its 576 page report yesterday on the causes of the great recession. They interviewed over 700 people with first-hand knowledge of how the crisis came to be. “Avoidable” concluded the Commission. Our regulators failed us. The lack of appropriate regulatory oversight failed us. Excessive…
The newly thankful for health insurance
There are thousands and thousands of employees across the country who have something to be very thankful for this Thanksgiving—new employer sponsored health insurance. According to Bernstein Research there has been a 14 percent increase in businesses with fewer than 10 employees offering health insurance to their workers compared to…
More than just an election this week
I was a little pre-occupied this week so I’m late with this blog.A little thing like an election sucked some energy out of me as it did most folks. But I was involved with some positive activities. My declaration expressing support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse…