Suppose your pet was allergic to veterinarians. Do you think that might be a problem? After every visit to the vet, he comes away sicker than when he arrived. That is the pickle we are in. In major ways, our economy is a sick puppy. Politicians caused the sickness. Politicians make it worse. Lord help us if they decide to try to cure it.
The economy: Yes, it has had a modest recovery. But take out the jolt from the oil and gas drilling and the recovery would be anemic. (And remember, this administration opposes and hamstrings oil and gas expansion.)
Yes, the propaganda from Washington tells us the jobs picture is brighter. So is the propaganda. Look at the lab results. Figures for net new jobs? Quality of jobs? Household income? Shrinkage of workforce? Genuine unemployment? Results are dismal.
What has caused this? The massive ignorance of our politicians. Now we should not expect brilliance from them on any subject. But we should expect more than blatant ignorance when it comes to our economy.
How can you be so harsh, Tom? Because the problems are so easy to diagnose.
Small businesses and startups are not just important to our economy. They are as essential as a healthy heart. They are as vital as good nutrition. Without them you have virtually no net new jobs.
How have our politicians treated these precious assets? Horribly. With absolute ignorance. And, surprise: the puppy is sick. Recent reports tell us more small businesses are dying than are being birthed. Startups are shrinking in number. Small businesses and startups are absolutely essential to the health of our economy. And they are gasping. Not good. Code Blue.
Let us listen to the patient. More than 70 percent of small businesses tell pollsters that White House policies hurt them. About 55 percent say federal regulations hurt them. Nearly 70 percent say that muddled government rules impede them in creating new jobs. A majority of small-business owners say they would not start a new business today. Because of the climate created by the politicians.
And how do the politicians respond to the patients’ complaints? How do they react to such dismal test results?
They unleash thousands of new regulations upon small businesses. Thousands. They whack them with the onerous Obamacare. They make the tax code ever more complicated.
Worse, they let big business write the laws and regulations for various industries. That’s without even thinking to ask small businesses what the damage will be to them. The politicians fashioned history’s largest stimulus package. And within it, they ignored small businesses and startups.
In other words, they write a bunch of prescriptions. For drugs that inflict bad side-effects. Again, without seeing the patient.
This neglect has gone on for many years. But our current crop of leaders has elevated neglect to abuse. The abuse comes from their utter ignorance. They don’t know who creates the jobs. They don’t know what discourages them from doing so.
They live and work in the D.C. bubble. They are no more in touch with us than the professor who teaches medicine but never sees a patient. One prime example speaks volumes about how isolated the politicians are from reality. The president formed a big-jobs commission. He filled the quotas for women and minorities.
But he put not a single small-business person on the commission. Totally ignored the very businesses that create our jobs. He packed the commission with CEOs from big businesses. Many of which were cutting jobs. Duh. And nobody in Washington noticed. Double duh, squared.
(Go to the website for the President’s Council on Jobs. Read the bios of the members. And their reports. The attention to small business might fill a thimble.)
The latest test results show the small-business puppy is pretty sick. Made sick by politicians. I’ve never prayed for a puppy. But if the politicians announce they are going to focus on healing him, I am going to phone the Pope. He has shown he knows not much about free enterprise. But he did say that animals go to heaven.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and TV show. Contact him at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com