Letter to the Editor: My 2 Cents on our Current Economic Troubles

In reading your “Calling All Opinion Writers” request in the August 10 [issue of The Central New York Business Journal],  I felt compelled to chime in with my two cents.

First, a brief background. My name is Edward Jones, unfortunately not of the financial company fame. I am the owner and CEO of Advanced Business Systems, Inc. We are an office-technology dealer, offering copying/printing/scanning/faxing equipment as well as network services and software solutions. We started in 1991 in Watertown and now have an office in East Syracuse as well.

As our country’s economy has spiraled downward over the past several years, it has been difficult to “hold on” and continue to focus on my company and our growth. But, I am optimistic about the future, if and only if our political leaders at all levels are strong enough to make some difficult decisions and choices and put aside the partisan bickering. As things have continued to worsen with state and local budgets, I believe that our economy has clearly told us “where it hurts.” It is rather evident that we need government reform, tax reform, and government spending must be reeled in if our business community is going to do its thing in fixing unemployment and subsequently the overall economy. Is it a coincidence that the states that are in the worst financial shape are also the states with some of the highest tax rates in the nation? I think not. Regardless of what side of the aisle you stand on, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, the taxing and spending, mandates, and anti-business legislation must stop.

For starters, when we look at government growth and add to that the disparaging difference in government salaries, benefits, and retirement from the private sector, it is impossible for us to compete for much-needed workers and talent. As taxpayers, we can no longer afford to pay for these salaries and benefits. There are many published statistics and I will not attempt to quote them here, but suffice to say when these things are compared the government is paying much more than we taxpayers can afford. Again, statistically we see that businesses, especially large businesses, have been leaving New York for years for reasons that we can all clearly see — taxes, regulations, mandates, licensing, health-care costs etc. But, we haven’t really done anything to fix those things. And, that exodus only places a larger, heavier burden on the remaining businesses.

I recently read an article that spoke about cleaning up the storm damage from [Hurricane] Irene in the Hudson Valley. The community secured a grant and thought, “Great, we can hire some summer labor and clean this up while putting some people to work.” But, others stepped in and said wait, we must pay these people prevailing wage ($31.76 an hour), but that’s not all. The average union worker would also make the equivalent of $21 per hour in benefits, so we must pay these college and high-school students over $51 an hour. These kinds of stories and ridiculous decisions are crushing our economy. I am not attacking unions by any means, but I think that any reasonable person should be able to see the craziness here.

History shows us that small- to mid-size companies have and will be the keys to coming back from a recession, depression, or economic slowdown. We just need to loosen the reins a bit and let them do it. As they say, “It ain’t rocket science.” That is not to say that these decisions or changes will be easy. Far from it. Unfortunately government spending and largesse in the form of entitlement programs, extending unemployment [benefits], and publicly funded programs have grown so much that some people will be hurt by these cuts, but the reality has set in that cut we must. We can no longer afford to continue as though we don’t really see the problem. My opinion, for what it’s worth.

Sincerely,

Edward W. Jones, CEO

Advanced Business Systems, Inc.

Watertown