Archive for the 'Presidential policies' Category

Small Business Advocate Poll: To Keystone or not to Keystone?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on February 2, 2012
in Economy: National and Global, Presidential policies and Regulations
. 0 Comments

The Question:
Construction of the Keystone Pipeline to bring Canadian crude oil to U.S. refineries is being debated in Washington. What do you think?

87% - Yes, it will create jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil

9% - No, it could be an environmental nightmare

4% - Uncertain

Jim’s Comments:
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: The United States of America, which consumes more carbon fuel per capita than any other nation on the planet, has NO national energy plan. Not now, not ever, nor is one even being considered.

So, when the Keystone Pipeline - which would bisect the U.S. by carrying Canadian crude oil to Houston, Texas - was proposed, it’s not like it either fit into or violated some kind of a grand plan. But it does push the buttons of a lot of people and create a few strange bedfellows.

  • Environmentalists hate it because: 1) it might break and contaminate the environment; and 2) they don’t like anything that promotes the use of more carbon fuel.
  • Unions like it because: 1) it creates thousands of jobs they hope will be union jobs; and 2) they desperately need more union dues from those jobs.
  • The Obama administration hates it because: 1) they only like green jobs and crude is either black or brown, but never green; and 2) they made the calculation that they can get more votes by ticking off the unions than the environmentalists.
  • The petroleum industry likes it because: 1) they like anything that puts the word “more” in front of “oil”; and 2) it ticks off the environmentalists.
  • The marketplace likes it because: 1) it will create thousands of jobs; and 2) and we desperately need more new jobs.
  • Most members of Congress like it because: 1) it creates jobs and, unlike the Obama administration, they don’t care what color jobs; and 2) they can take credit for creating jobs.

So, that leaves only one U.S. group to poll: small businesses. And when we asked our small business audiences what they thought about the Keystone Pipeline, here’s what we learned.

Almost nine of ten - 87% - said “Yes, the Keystone pipeline will create jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.” Apparently, we don’t think Canadian oil is “foreign.” Less than 10% said, “No, it could be an environmental nightmare,” and the rest were “Uncertain.”

Consequently, if you just do the math, clearly more groups want the Keystone Pipeline than don’t. And since I believe that small business votes should get double weight, the pipeline should be a slam dunk.

But since Barack Obama has that Oval Office thing going for him, which he used last week to reject the pipeline, it looks like the Keystone Pipeline is in trouble. Stay tuned.

Yesterday on my radio program I talked more about why we need the Keystone Pipeline. Take a few minutes to listen or download and leave your thoughts.

Check out more great SBA content HERE!

Take this week’s poll HERE!

Whose policies are responsible for the slow economy?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on July 8, 2011
in Economy: National and Global, Management Fundamentals and Presidential policies
. 0 Comments

The end of this month is the second anniversary of the technical end of the Great Recession.  Alas, what I have called the not-so-great recovery has been so not-great that for many, the technical end date is nothing more than a data-point with little correspondence to what’s happening in real life.

Some of the unemployment stats are at or near records, with millions of Americans cyclically or structurally out of work, many chronically so. One-fourth of homeowners with mortgages are upside-down, a term for when you owe more than the underlying asset. And now, almost three years after the financial meltdown of 2008, the economy is softening to the point that some talking heads are talking another recession - the dreaded “double dip.”

Clearly, many of our problems have been brought on by digital greed and not a little marketplace malfeasance. As that legendary possum philosopher, Pogo, once said, “We have seen the enemy, and he is us.” But it’s just as clear that the political class has to answer for their bumblings, bad policies and political non-leadership.

We wanted to know how our audience felt about how much of our pain can be attributed to that person upon whose desk the Harry Truman buck stops.  So last week, in our poll question on the website and in the Newsletter, we asked, “Whose policies do you think are more responsible for the current painfully slow economy?”

Those who thought our economic woes were “… more of a residual of President Bush’s policies,” represented 15% of our respondents.  A little less than 40% said, “After 2.5 years, this is President Obama’s economy.”  But the big number - almost half - said, “I blame the policies of both administrations.”

One of the ways politicians get re-elected is to make us feel that they have the answers to our problems and, given the chance, will fix them. But that sword has two edges and the other side cuts deeper with accountability for perceived, if not real, mistakes.

In Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony’s eulogy of Caesar includes this passage: “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

And so it is to this day.

Click here to take this week’s poll on government regulations.

Note to political class: It was never about the tea

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on May 10, 2010
in Entrepreneurship, Government and Presidential policies
. 0 Comments

Even though it had a virtual global monopoly on the tea trade, by 1772, the British East India Company was burdened with tons of unsold tea and associated financial problems. One of the reasons for these problems was that, to resist paying the Townshend import duty of two shillings and three pence per pound, imposed by England, merchants in the American colonies were operating a black market of lesser quality tea than The Company’s bohea variety.

Consequently, on May 10, 1773,  the English Parliament passed the Tea Act, which provided for The Company’s tea to be sold at a significant discount in America. The Act did not impose any new tax, but it did do two things: 1) the lower price would undercut the colonists’ black market; and 2) each pound of the cheaper tea would still generate Townshend duty revenue.

In most market actions, lower prices are welcomed by consumers, especially for a superior product. But in 1773 America, where even the slightest westward twitch of the British government was considered by the once and future revolutionaries as disrespect at a minimum and oppression at a maximum, English ships laden with tariff-generating cheap tea were not welcome in American harbors.

Resistance to The Company’s cheap tea was universally vociferous throughout the colonies, but in New England, the reaction manifested in the immortal Boston Tea Party. What the English government did not learn from the Boston Tea Party was that resistance by the American colonists was more about the principle of liberty than any specific government policy.

So far, I haven’t joined the modern-day Tea Party movement, attended any of their gatherings or even interviewed any self-proclaimed members on my radio show. But as a small business owner wanting little more from the Federal government than for it to do me no harm, increasing anti-market sentiment and intrusive policies surely make me identify with the principles of the 21st century Tea Party and its 18th century namesake.

On the 237th anniversary of the Tea Act, the U.S. government would do well to not minimize what is behind peaceful resistance to intrusive policies or indignation to words that offend self-determination. It’s not just about a tax, tariff, tea or health care, it’s about liberty.

Americans haven’t come lately to their love for liberty nor their willingness to stick a finger in the eye of any usurper of that beloved principle which, more than anything else, is America’s greatest product.

What President Obama doesn’t get about creating small business jobs

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on January 30, 2010
in Economy: National and Global, Politics, Presidential policies and Universal health care
. 1 Comment

In the two previous posts, I reported on things I liked about President Obama’s State of the Union speech and my critique of his specific small business jobs-creation ideas.  In this post, I predict that all of the tax credits, bank loans or other policy gyrations designed to influence small businesses to create new jobs will fall woefully short of a successful result because none of these issues are the reason businesses aren’t creating jobs. The reason for sluggish jobs creation is best described by paraphrasing a recent movie title: Mr. President, we’re just not that into your policy initiatives.  Here are the two issues Obama doubled-down on in his speech that are in direct conflict with his hope of new small business jobs.

Health care reform: Most Main Street small business owners will be reluctant to hire new employees as long as Obama and his party’s leadership push a health care reform agenda that sounds confusing at best and prohibitively expensive at worst.  Mr. President, if you want more small business jobs, scrap the current health care reform bill in Congress and start over with market-based solutions that make health insurance portable by giving tax advantages to the individual rather than the 20th century model of deductions for the employer.

Climate change legislation: America’s businesses, large and small, are already the most carbon-efficient in the world when the appropriate measurement is ascribed, per dollar of GDP.  Mr. Obama should congratulate businesses for this and encourage more of the same, instead of deriding and demotivating the marketplace with his climate-change policies that cause small businesses concern over what will happen to their energy budget if the current climate-change legislation is passed. 

President Obama, your current strategy for motivating small businesses to hire more people won’t work. You need better small business advisors who can prevent you from embarrassing yourself with statements and proposals that demonstrate how out-of-touch you are with Main Street.

Recently on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I reported in more detail on these issues. Take a few minutes to listen and, as always, let me know what you think the government can do to help small businesses hire more people. Listen Live! Download, Too!

The small business response to President Obama’s State of the Union Speech

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on January 30, 2010
in Banking - Investors - Capital, Politics and Presidential policies
. 1 Comment

In President Obama’s 2010 State of the Union speech he identified a number of issues that he apparently believed would appeal to Main Street small business owners. Alas, for the most part, his list merely revealed how out of touch he is with the challenges America’s small firms are facing today. Here are two of those points followed by my explanation of why the president needs better advisors when it comes to talking with small business owners.

$30 billion for community banks to loan to small business: On its face, this sound great, but as I have reported for almost two years, community banks don’t have a cash-for-loans problem; they have plenty of cash already and don’t want money - or the associated hassle - from the government. Nor do independent banks need more incentive to make small business loans. The overarching small business credit problem is not supply, but rather, demand. The condition of the economy is resulting in very little loan demand by small businesses. Wise up, Mr. President.

Eliminate capital gains for small business: It wouldn’t take a long conversation with any small business owner to discover that capital gains tax is their absolute least challenge as it virtually NEVER comes into play in the operation of their business, and any jobs creation as a result would be impossible to measure. In the list of the top 20 things that wake a small business owner up at night, capital gains tax wouldn’t appear. Mr. President, this is embarrassing.

Recently, on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked in greater detail about these and other issues in my small business response to President Obama’s state of the union speech. Take a few minutes to listen and let me know your thoughts on Obama’s plan for helping small businesses. Listen Live! Download, Too!

What I liked about Obama’s State of the Union Speech

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on January 30, 2010
in Politics, Presidential policies, Trade and Trade - Imports - Exports
. 0 Comments

During President Obama’s 2010 State of the Union speech he identified a number of issues that I give him high marks for. Here is my list:

Tax incentives for new hires:  The president proposed tax credits for new hiring by businesses. This is a great idea, but it’s about a year late so he needs to get this passed right away.

Free trade:  He included the need for more free trade agreements, including the one with Columbia that has been stuck in Congress for years.  He’ll have to fight forces in his own party to get this done.

Energy:  I give President Obama a high-five for proposing more nuclear power in America’s future, plus more drilling for our sovereign oil and gas deposits.  Again, he’ll have to deal with his own folks to make this happen.

Iran:  Mr Obama fired a shot across the bow of Iran; I have already predicted he would get a chance to make good on this stance in 2010.  If I’m right, we won’t have to wait long to see if Obama has the stones to back-up his rhetoric with action.

Recently, on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked about all of these issues.  Take a few minutes to listen and let me know what you thought about this speech. Listen Live! Download, Too!