Dear Mr. President: Why We Are Not Hiring

American Thinker ^ | February 12, 2010 | C. Edmund Wright

[Puzzleman]

Mr. President, did I really hear you say that businesses aren't hiring because they can't get bank loans? Are you kidding me?

Please indulge me for a moment, and we can get to the actual reasons...

[verity]

This is sarcasm. Right?

[Pollster1]

Our main goal right now is risk mitigation ... No debt is my mantra right now ... Good time to spend with the kids

Not too different from my goal. We have (literally) no debt, not even a mortgage. We are taking on no risk, not even the "risk" of a new employee who could turn into a liability with a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal if the congresscritters create new costs of employment. We're spending time with our wonderful kids. As much as I enjoyed the contribution I made to my community and to America when I worked much harder, being full-time parents and part-time workers is not too bad a life.

[wireplay]

I also want to remain ‘mobile’ so we can move as needed. I don’t foresee a major move but we can work anywhere there is an internet connection and I may opt to take advantage of that flexibility.

[Pollster1]

Good plan; I wish you well.

If I go mobile, it’ll be to TX when they stand up to the socialists in DC.

[1rudeboy]

Any business idea, from the first day it is hatched, is nothing more than a series of cost-benefit analyses that the idea-holder either acts on or passes on. Sometimes the first decision is to forget the idea. Sometimes the first decision is to move ahead and invest some cash.

Someone should take a nailgun and staple the above to the forehead of everyone currently attending college.

[jersey117]

Our “partnership” with them has been a disaster for all but a very few Americans who have profitted from the ChiCom slave labor. We all seem pretty content to blame one another while ignoring this 800 lb gorilla standing right in front of us.

That's exactly right. So many US business owners have an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em attitude and capitalize on the cheap goods.

[concerned about politics]

That's exactly right. So many US business owners have an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em attitude and capitalize on the cheap goods.

It's either that or deal with the $$$ union $$$ labor here. Americans can't afford union labor anymore. 40% of our wages are lost from taxes and government fees. What's left has to be used as wisely as possible.
Unions are destroying us as much as China. That doesn't leave us much room to shop around. We're between a rock and a hard place.

[1rudeboy]

Man, I hate to tell 'ya, bit with the present business environment (just as described in this column), taking a 100% commission job is a risk (especially if you expect that "contractor" to use his own vehicle to get around). Track records from previous reps. and industry reports are nearly meaningless, unless you have data from the last recession.

Good luck finding someone, but lamenting that the "market has changed" while not responding to the change in the market is a little . . . optimistic.

[1rudeboy]

I think it all boils down to China and our relationship with China.

Except for this writer, that is. Why can't we deal with both China and the anti-business environment in the U.S.? Why are both problems mutually-exclusive?

[denydenydeny]

...when I see you hold job summits featuring environmentalists and unions, lawyers, and poverty pimps, I am even more thrilled to be out of the game. When I hear you fantasize that the only reason businesses won't hire is that they can't get a loan, my decision is further validated. And when you say that small business is clamoring for you to pass health care, I know that you have taken total leave of your senses.

Bumpety-bump.

[Chickensoup]

bump

[laxcoach]

Chinese communism seems to be thriving while American capitalism is clearly circling the drain.

I would argue that in many ways China is more capitalistic than the US. The difference there is that there is no illusion of ownership and property rights.

But, if you walk down the street in a major city like Shanghai all you will see is pure, unrelenting capitalism and consumerism. Then, you go out to the countryside where they have factories and it's an unregulated (in terms of environmentalism) wild west.

Don't get me wrong. It's better here. There you have to pay of officials constantly to keep your factory open. You can have your interests ripped away at the whim of some fuedalistic viceroy. The government decides the winners and losers more overtly than here.

On our current trajectory, China is the place to do business. The US is on course to become just as paternalistic, only with far more regulation.

[KansasGirl]

That Obama would even make such a statement proves how completely ignorant he is. Obama is a moron and I am sick of hearing people say that he is brilliant.

[KansasGirl]

Obama is just as dumb as the pet rock I had as a child.

[RC one]

I would argue that in many ways China is more capitalistic than the US.

When you lay down with devil, don't get upset when you get burned.

[pray4liberty]

This is why businesses with good credit are going to Lending Club.

[1rudeboy]

Assume that tomorrow China ceases to exist. Nothing, no longer even a spot on a map. What does that have to do with the problems this writer identifies?

[Jackknife]

I would love to be able to see and hear this man actually read this face-to-face to obummer.

[RC one]

The writer is wrong. That was my point. He cites $4/gal gas a problem and as the reason he failed. Gas is $2.50/gal right down the street and guess what, when it was $4/gal, it was a result of capitalist speculation in the energy markets that drove it up there and it happened under Bush’s watch. Blaming the financial meltdown on liberal lending policies? There may be a grain of truth in that but it was the banks that repackaged those sub-prime mortgages into investments and sold them all over the world. That was pure capitalism. As I said, it’s our inability to compete with China that has precipitated this mess. The playing field isn’t any kind of level and there are elements within our own society that are all too willing to sell out America to the Chinese. And then, with full knowledge of their contribution to this dillema, they simply blame the other political party when our ship starts to sink and hope nobody notices them escaping on their life rafts loaded up with money. And then they have the nerve to call the democrats the communists. It disgusts me. Like I said, you wanna sleep with the devil, don’t cry to me when you’re burning.

[Josephat]

but I really got tired of the anti-business rhetoric that made me as an employer out to be so greedy and evil.
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I have a 30 year old son who, with a college friend, is in the process of building a chain of franchise burger joints.
The franchise is a popular one and they should do very well and if this were 10 years ago, I would have no reason to doubt their success. Their measure of success includes how many lives they have changed for the better. Certainly, they want to make money, but they want to make it possible for others to do the same. They promote from within and mentor any employee that shows an interest in advancement. They have set up generous profit sharing and plan to offer health insurance to their employees regardless of govenment mandate. I am very proud of the way they approach their business. I also realize that they are not the only altruistic entrepreneurs out there. I’m not sure you would even call it altruism, since they realize that treating their employees well will result in a better bottom line. I have long used that criteria when making investment decisions and it has worked well. Common sense tells you that it would. If a person feels valued and an integral part of a whole AND benefits from the success of the whole, he will perform to the best of his ability. If he shows exceptional ability, he may become a more important part and receive a larger reward. If all parts of the whole are on line with the program, the whole will succeed and the parts will prosper. When the whole succeeds, it grows and the process is repeated. UNTIL the government steps in and tells them how to operate. Our current political situation makes me very nervous for these young entrepreneurs and the many others just like them.