Austin Hill - Job Creation Nation: America Faces Harsh Realities In 2013

The political conventions have passed, the August jobs report is out, and many Americans are said to be “giving up hope.”

So how can we jumpstart our greatest engine of economic growth – the American small business market – and get our economy growing again?

Regardless of which presidential candidate wins this November, in 2013 Americans will have to focus on saving, and expanding, the small business marketplace. The sector of our economy that makes up nearly 60% of the entire American private sector workforce, and creates between 60 and 80% of all new jobs, has been under attack over the past few years by politicians who have created lots of bad laws.

And if Americans are serious about expanding actual employment (rather than merely expanding government welfare and entitlement programs), then we will have to make better choices at the ballot box, and hold our elected leaders responsible for making serious changes. To start, let’s consider consider this harsh reality: the so-called “fiscal cliff” is real, and President Obama’s proposed solution to it is potentially lethal.

Under current federal law, both income tax rates and Social Security tax rates are set to rise dramatically on January 1st of 2013. Along with these tax increases, a dramatic reduction in government services will take hold at the same time.

This confluence of private citizens having more of their money taken away (higher taxes), and a reduction of government services (which means that private citizens will have to fill the gap and spend more of their own money) is expected to trigger a new recession next year. As a means of preventing a “double dip,” both Republicans and Democrats in the Congress have proposed that taxation rates be frozen where they are at, and held steady in 2013.

But President Obama has insisted that taxes should be raised on so-called “rich people” next year, and has refused to do what most economists and many members of his party have said is the one thing that could save us from another downturn.

And with the President polling as well as he is, it seems apparent that millions of Americans are far more excited about his “make the rich pay” rhetoric than they are aware of the consequences of his proposals. Obama supporters may get their wish in November, but it will come at a painful price – a price that all of us will pay.

And here’s another harsh reality: Americans need to get comfortable with other people’s financial successes. Since the early days of his first presidential campaign in 2007, Barack Obama has been pouring fuel on the fires of resentment and envy towards the wealthy. As a political strategy this has worked well for the President, but as government policy this has been bad for all of us.

The President’s tax-hike push is a perfect example, as many of America’s small businesses are set-up under the I.R.S. code as “Sub-chapter S” corporations. These are businesses wherein the company profits are reported to the I.R.S. directly as personal income by the business owners and are subject to personal income tax rates – and many of these business owners are being targeted by President Obama for an income tax-hike.

If the President gets his wish, and the government begins confiscating more money from the owners of Sub-chapter S corporations, by definition this leaves less money in these corporations for hiring and expansion. Thus Americans have a choice to make – do we want to employ our President for another four years so he can satiate the hatred some of us have towards “the rich” and take away more of their money? Or would we like private business owners to have money available to employ more of us? From the way things appear right now, we probably can’t do both.

And here’s harsh reality number three: Americans have to stop Obamacare from wiping-out small businesses. A central feature of this law is the mandate that businesses provide healthcare insurance to their workers. It sounds great – workers will now be “guaranteed” health insurance – but once again, the “make somebody else pay” approach is heaping more weight on the shoulders of small business owners.

Americans must decide how serious they are about job creation – even if it means that some jobs won’t include health benefits. If we honestly want employers to employ more, we must force the Congress and the President to fix this devastating component of Obamacare next year.

And here’s yet another harsh reality: Americans must stop making small businesses a scapegoat on illegal immigration. Roughly two-thirds of Americans want our national borders secured and a coherent immigration policy, yet for over a decade Washington has refused to do the former and has scarcely attempted the latter.

Amid the frustration, businesses have become the target of Americans’ wrath. If business owners would simply quit hiring illegals -so the reasoning goes -the illegals would go away.

Mitt Romney has pledged that, if elected, he will seek to require American employers and workers to register with the federal government’s “e-verify” website, as a means of policing the problem. But this adds even more bureaucratic burdens to small business owners, and ignores our failed immigration policies and un-secured borders.

Do we want politicians who merely tell us what we want to hear? Or do we want leaders in our government who can actually enable businesses to grow? Americans must become more discerning-and face some harsh realities.

Austin Hill

Austin Hill is an emerging American voice, addressing culture-defining questions through books, talk radio, web, speaking, and interviews. His recent books "White House Confidential" and his new title "The Virtues Of Capitalism" show his range from whit-infused writer to thought-provoking expert on the intersection of philosophy, religion, politics & culture. Hill helps to make the complex seem simple when exploring capitalism, socialism, and other "Isms".

He is an editorial contributor to national publications such as U.S. News & World Report, a columnist with TownHall.com, and is a popular expert-host on radio from leading stations in Washington DC, Chicago, Phoenix and Los Angeles, and nationally with networks such as Fox NewsTalk Radio.  He hosts the "Austin Hill Show" weekday mornings at Fresno, California's Talk Radio 105-9 KMJ-FM,  and weekday afternoons at Boise, Idaho's Newstalk 580 K I D O radio.

Hill holds a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and a Master's Degree in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics from Biola University in California.

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Chris Wallace - Ed Gillespie: Obama policies are hostile to job creators

Mitt Romney campaign adviser Ed Gillespie joined Fox News Sunday to talk about the grim economic news last week. Host Chris Wallace noted that employers added the fewest jobs in a year and the stock market wiped out all the gains it had made in 2012. He asked Gillespie what Mitt Romney thinks is going wrong. Gillespie answered, “This is a hostile environment for job creation in our economy. And that’s why, frankly, it adds a sense of urgency in terms of this year’s election to be able to turn things around because the only thing that’s going to change it are changing the policies and that means changing the person in the White House.”

President Obama has said, “Congress hasn’t acted on enough of the other ideas in that bill that would make a difference and help create jobs right now. There’s no excuse for that, not when so many people are still looking for work.”

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PJTV - Chicagoland Shakedown: Why It's Impossible to Run A Business Without Breaking the Law

Istria Cafe is a small business in Chicago, one of the most over-regulated cities in America. PJTV's Alexis Garcia interviews the Pribaz brothers, the owners of Istria Cafe, to show you how regulations are destroying businesses and jobs. Would you believe that it is almost impossible to run a business in Chicago without violating rules and regulations, and paying extraordinary fines? From utilities, to health care Alexis Garcia tells you why some businesses might not survive in the down economy.

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Americans for Prosperity (AFP) - Wasteful Spending

AFP's "Wasteful Spending" ad holds President Obama accountable for sending billions of taxpayer dollars to "green energy" companies overseas, even while Americans suffer with rising energy prices and a lack of jobs.

Frank Luntz explains why AFP's "Wasteful Spending" ad is most effective

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Austin Hill - Could the JOBS Bill Make Matters Worse for Job Creation

You’ve probably seen the headlines - the J.O.B.S. bill passed in the Senate.

So that means more “jobs” in the American economy, right?

As President Obama and a large portion of the Congress run for re-election, Washington is obsessed with this rather illusory concept of “job creation.” And the “J.O.B.S.” Act, named with an acronym that stands for “Jumpstart Our Business Startups,” is the latest legislative effort to stimulate business startups, and thus, to entice job creation.

The bill actually resembles a hodgepodge of several different legislative agendas. And even if the bill accomplishes what its supporters claim, it is probably still several steps removed from actual “job creation.” It may also be yet another governmental wet blanket thrown on top of an economy that is ready to catch fire.

But before I get in to these latest details, let’s consider what Washington has been doing to “create jobs” over the past few years.

In February of 2009, the federal economic “stimulus” bill became law. It cost us over $850 billion, and it was promised that, as long as the bill passed, the national unemployment rate would not rise above 8%.

Well, the unemployment rate rose well above 8% after the bill’s passage, and it still has still not dropped below that mark. One can argue that the bill was necessary at the time – or not – to prevent further erosion in the economy. But there would seem to be fewer “jobs” in the American economy, in the aftermath of this big Washington spending binge.

Then in 2010, there was the monumental healthcare reform bill. This bill was sold as a means of curtailing healthcare costs, making healthcare “universal,” and, as the President noted, it would prevent the government itself from “going bankrupt.”

It was also sold as a job creation bill. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi claimed right before the bill’s passage that it would create4 million jobs – “400,000 jobs almost immediately." Since it became law 2 years ago, healthcare costs have skyrocketed, private sector employers have dropped health coverage for some 1-2 million workers, and 400,000 new jobs have yet to be created.

My point here is that our federal government has spent untold amounts of our scarce tax dollars in the name of “creating jobs,” with little or nothing to show for it. Given this, we should all approach the new “J.O.B.S. bill” with a healthy dose of skepticism. Politicians have a built-in incentive to appear as though they’re doing things that make our lives wonderful. But just because they claim to be doing great things, doesn’t mean that they are.

As for the new “J.O.B.S. bill,” a version in the Senate passed, but now it goes to the House of Representatives for amending, and a vote.

One of the claims about this bill is that it would expand a phenomenon known as “crowd funding.” As writer Catherine Clifford noted at Entrepreneur.com, the bill seeks to make it “easier for startups to raise small amounts of money from large pools of investors” by utilizing this burgeoning mechanism for funding.

But this great effort on behalf of the U.S. Senate raises an important question: does the process of crowd funding need help from the government?

Crowd funding is the term of art used to describe a process whereby people pool their money to support a particular cause. Raising money for disaster relief is an example of this process, yet in recent years crowd funding has been utilized to fund everything from social movements (think “Occupy Wall Street” supporters plopping thousands of dollars in a bucket along the side of the road) to private artistic creations to small businesses.

So with crowd funding going so well, why would the Senate need to make it “easier” for businesses to utilize the technique? Might it be the case that government’s effort to “help out” with crowd funding might makes matters worse?

One of the expressed concerns of the Senate about expanding business owners’ access to capital was that investors would be adequately protected in the process. And the J.O.B.S. bill addresses forms of funding other than crowd funding, and allows businesses to raise investment capital more easily.

But crowd funding by its nature is not an “investment.” Visit Kickstarter.com and notice the artistic and creative endeavors that one can help fund – yet if you contribute to a project, you’re really more of a “donor” than you are an investor, and you do not receive a “share” of the enterprise.

So how does Congress “protect investors” who provide crowd funding, when in fact crowd funding is not an investment matter in the first place? If the final J.O.B.S. bill seeks to impose regulations on crowd funding as though providing crowd funding is similar to buying securities, the bill could severely hamper the very essence of this grassroots phenomenon.

Until Congress and the President demonstrate that they have a respect for the entrepreneurs, artists, and risk takers who make our economy function, we should all be skeptical of politicians who purport to “create jobs.”

Austin Hill

Austin Hill is an emerging American voice, addressing culture-defining questions through books, talk radio, web, speaking, and interviews. His recent books "White House Confidential" and his new title "The Virtues Of Capitalism" show his range from whit-infused writer to thought-provoking expert on the intersection of philosophy, religion, politics & culture. Hill helps to make the complex seem simple when exploring capitalism, socialism, and other "Isms".

He is an editorial contributor to national publications such as U.S. News & World Report, a columnist with TownHall.com, and is a popular expert-host on radio from leading stations in Washington DC, Chicago, Phoenix and Los Angeles, and nationally with networks such as Fox NewsTalk Radio.  He hosts the "Austin Hill Show" weekday mornings at Fresno, California's Talk Radio 105-9 KMJ-FM,  and weekday afternoons at Boise, Idaho's Newstalk 580 K I D O radio.

Hill holds a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and a Master's Degree in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics from Biola University in California.

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Lurita Doan - Harry Reid's Unicorn Problem

If Americans listen to Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, and once thing is clear--he is a man who is extraordinarily ignorant of basic economics, how jobs are created, and he abhors the free market. Reid has just reminded Americans just how little he knows (and baneful Reid has become) when, on Monday, Reid announced on the floor of the Senate that “Millionaire job creators are like unicorns,”, “They’re impossible to find, and they don’t exist.”

How silly! How delusional! How dunderheaded! How absolutely wrong!

Thousands upon thousands of jobs have been created by business owners across the United States and, while not all entrepreneurs are so fortunate, many become the "millionaires" that Harry Reid says he can't find. Having a great idea, forming a small business, working hard and watching it grow are, sadly, not part of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s knowledge base.

Reid simply doesn’t believe entrepreneurs exist. Worse yet, he goes out of his way to belittle and ridicule the very entrepreneurial spirit that has built America and made our nation so prosperous that he and his Democrat friends have ample opportunities to loot the wealth that others have created.

Reid's ignorance certainly explains why he and his fellow Democrats are so openly hostile to the business community and why they think only the government can create jobs. Yet, the real tragedy here is that Reid’s “unicorn” speech went largely unnoticed.

Small business owners create 3 out of every 4 jobs in this country. But, even after achieving success, the growth doesn't stop there. Business owners and entrepreneurs are responsible for helping others achieve business success through venture capital investing and Angel startup investing in thousands of small businesses across the country.

Ted Leonsis is a good example of a unicorn, a man who first worked and made millions (with AOL) then, re-invested those funds in new businesses (such as the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals sports franchises), then re-invested the fruits of those successes in countless small business technology startups, such as Groupon, Zipcar and Living Social. He created thousands of jobs in the process. Nor is Leonsis alone, for there are thousands of other unicorns just like him.

America is blessed with a vast network of 'Angel Investors' , most of whom are wealthy people that are willing to provide an entrepreneur, the capital needed to help launch a business, build a product or service, and get it to market. Over 60,000 new businesses are launched each year in this way, creating millions of jobs in the process and serving as the engine to the American economy.

So why doesn't Harry Reid know this?

Why doesn't Harry Reid understand that what we are talking about is nothing other than the American dream?

It's a dream that has drawn countless millions to this country for centuries and is the reason why countless millions more desperately want to come to this country. It's a dream that with hard work, some tough days, weeks, months, maybe even years, with ingenuity and persistence, any good idea can become a business success.

True, this dream is not for everyone. Not everyone is willing to take risks. Not everyone is willing to sacrifice their time, their treasure, their youth to fulfilling the dream. Not everyone is willing to work fourteen hour days, seven days a week. Because, sometimes, that's what the dream takes. Nor is success guaranteed. And, there are many who try and fail. That's okay too, because the American Dream is simply the opportunity to try for the brass ring. No handouts. No guarantees. But still, Harry Reid thinks the American Dream is a myth.

So what does that tell you?

Yes, Harry Reid seems jaded and is willfully blind to the facts concerning small businesses, entrepreneurs and job creation. Reid is clearly ignorant of all the hundred of thousands of man hours that innovators and business owners have spent growing businesses that create the $14.5 trillion dollars of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for this country annually. And, it is the fruits of these "mythical" businesses that he, President Obama and others routinely shakedown for donations, and threaten, by passing arcane legislation, often in the middle of the night without much thought or debate, to make the job creator’s task even more difficult.

So what does that tell you?

First, that Americans should be concerned that someone so colossally ignorant and dangerous could rise so high in the Senate. Second, Reid's ridiculously obtuse statement shows that he is far more closely aligned with President Obama, and Democrat Marxist meanderings, because Obama doesn't believe in the American Dream either, and ridicules those who do.

Harry Reid believes that only government can create jobs and spur the economy. I know that he is wrong. And "yes, Virginia", you can thank your lucky stars that there are most certainly unicorns in America.

Lurita Doan

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Lurita Alexis Doan is an African American conservative commentator who writes about issues affecting the federal government.

Lurita has been involved in the business community through participation in many trade associations, membership in business organizations including the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization (now Entrepreneurs' Organization) and Young Presidents' Organization, and involvement on charitable community activities.

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Zonation - Al Sharpton and MSNBC Lean Off the Deep End

MSNBC is promoting itself with inane promos. One features the Rev. Al Sharpton talking about pie, another shows Lawrence O'Donnell muddling up economics, government and the jobs market. When will the madness stop at this biased news channel?

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Kevin McCullough - The 40 Million Jobs Plan

During this past week while President Obama was out campaigning for re-election... (er... I mean "selling his jobs bill") the most indictable evidence of his failure was made evident to all.

The current number of 14 million unemployed wasn't the issue. Though it's a scandal in and of itself.

It is the newly published number in U.S. News and World Report that puts the underemployed at 26 million.

"Put together, almost 26 million Americans are either unemployed, marginally attached to the labor force, or involuntarily working part-time—a number experts say is unprecedented."

Put the two numbers together and 40 million adults or 1 in every 7.5 working age people are without the capacity to work enough to live on in America.

My God, how can we live with ourselves?

Forget the smelly, crime-prone, sleep deprived, weirdos who are currently blaming businesses for the problem. Forget the fact that the President's own party couldn't pass his own laughable "jobs" bill this week on a first try with the least objectionable piece of the plan being put forward.

1 in every 7.5?

Compare that with other revelations this week that yet another controversial "green energy" company got a massive half-billion bailout, this one however located in Finland, and with deep ties to Obama's campaign bundling efforts and you've got the appearance of not just ineptness, but of nepotism, corruption, possibly criminality.

How does the President respond? By siding against the evils of business, and misleadingly imply that he's the champion of the working man. Going so far as to align himself with shout-outs to the occupiers that are obstructing the life of our nation's major cities.

On Thursday this week I asked my facebook followers, listeners, and readers if they deemed the economy a moral or political issue.

The reason I asked, is because generally when you see punditry discuss it, it's always in the context of how it can be manipulated to win elections. "Lower Taxes, boost small business, give the money's people back to the people." Or... "Tax those who aren't doing their fair share, and 'help' people by giving them more funding." Pandering, blatant campaigning, blatant emotional savagery.

But I asked anyway, because from the time I wrote about it in my first book in 2006, and long before then, I've fundamentally seen the economy as the largest moral issue of our time.

If we as a people--the ones empowered to run this nation--do not take active control in the economic development of our nation's future, it is WE who are abandoning our responsibilities and allowing the political savages have their way.

It is my firm belief that there are moral absolutes in economic development for America and one of the most important is one of dignity.

When the day comes and we put our feet on the floor at our bedside each morning, hoping more for someone else to help us, than we are willing to shoulder and help our selves, then we have ceased to be a moral nation. Put another way, expecting others to feed, clothe, house, and bury us is ultimately lazy non-living. And waiting for government to fix it is by definition insanity.

It's not that elections don't count. They do!

It's that we're so darned stupid most election cycles that we fall prey to the belief that the politicians are the ones in charge, when they've never been.

So how do we find enough work for 40 million jobs to be raised to the standard by which people can survive?

The only solution, is by thinking differently about our role in the matter.

Punish the politicians who got us here? Well, replacing them at least?

Yes! Or at least the ones who stand accountable now!

Thinking the next batch will solve all our problems for us?

Never.

If we are dissatisfied with what is happening, then what we need is to enter a season of creativity, ingenuity, productivity and dignity. If politicians can help us in that respect, all the better.

But friends, they probably won't. And then--like certifiably crazy people--we'll be back on the treadmill in four more years.

Personally I'm ready to unplug that treadmill.

Kevin McCullough

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Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "The Kevin McCullough Show" weekdays (7-9am EST) & "Baldwin/McCullough Radio" Saturdays (9-11pm EST) on 215 stations & Sirius/XM . His new book from Thomas Nelson Publishers, "No He Can't" March 2011.

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Eric Cantor Talks Competing Jobs Plans

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Sunday that he gets the growing frustration of too many unemployed and underemployed Americans and the need to encourage people at the top of the income scale to "actually put their money to work to create more jobs so that we can see a closing of the gap."

October 16, 2011

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GOP Presidential Candidates on Job Creation

Gary Johnson Former Governor of New Mexico, Gov Rick Perry of Texas, Jon Huntsman Former Governor of Utah, Michele Bachmann U.S. Representative of Minnesota, Mitt Romney Former Governor of MA, Newt Gingrich Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rick Santorum Former Senator of PA, Ron Paul U.S. Representative of Texas, Herman Cain businessman and holds a Masters Degree in Computer Science,.

Sep 22, 2011

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