Jobs Here. Jobs Now. Jobs First!

Since taking office President Obama and his liberal allies in Congress have promised to create jobs, even as their destructive policies are killing jobs and stifling economic growth, particularly with America's small businesses.

In the 10 year period from 1996 to 2006, small businesses accounted for nearly 40 percent of total U.S. employment, according to a survey conducted by American Solutions, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., that we co-founded.  Workers employed by small businesses increased by 4.2 million or approximately 11 percent.

But small firms are bearing the brunt of the current recession. David Altig and Melinda Pitts of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta report that job losses for American businesses with fewer than 50 employees reflect 45 percent of total job loss in the current recession compared to just 9 percent in the 2001 recession.

Small business owners are voicing their concerns. Respondents in American Solutions' monthly small business survey in July cited high compliance costs related to OSHA, EPA and IRS reporting regulations as "a significant strain." One in five small business owners estimated that reducing these restrictions by half could save their company as much as $50,000 annually.
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President Barack Obama has betrayed my generation.  In 2008 millions of young Americans rallied behind Obama's challenge to be "the change that we seek."  President Obama swept the 18-29 year old voting bloc by 34 percentage points and promised Generation Y a better, brighter tomorrow.  Instead, he reneged on his campaign promises and delivered massive federal deficits that jeopardize our financial futures. 

Young Americans must face facts: we've been had.  The Left  used us to galvanize their 2008 campaign and used us again through future taxes to finance massive government programs which aren't working  The Obama-Pelosi-Reid team has spent trillions in future taxes - our future incomes - to fund the liberal agenda under the guise of reform. more »

According to our latest small business survey, America's small business owners are scared by the bad policies coming out of Washington, DC, which is impeding economic growth and the creation of much-needed new jobs.

The survey found that only 5% of small business owners plan to hire new workers in the next six months, signaling sparse optimism among job creators that Washington politicians will cut spending and put forth a real pro-growth agenda.

Here are a few more highlights from the survey:
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Nationally, unemployment is near 10 percent and could remain there for the foreseeable future. In June, the U.S. Department of Labor reported 652,000 people stopped looking for work.

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, the magnitude of the current recession goes well beyond unemployment numbers. Pew found that 32 percent of adults have been unemployed at some point during the now 30-month recession. In addition to being unemployed at some point, 55 percent report a cut in pay or reduction in hours.

To tackle these economic problems, Obama pressed Congress to pass a massive government stimulus package costing $862 billion and pushed forward a budget-busting $1 trillion health care entitlement program. He now seeks additional stimulus spending of $266 billion and the introduction of a new national energy tax, which one outside estimate predicts will kill 5.1 million jobs over the next 40 years and cost the American economy $125.9 billion per year, or $1,042 per household.
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One of the most important, yet infrequently discussed, policy debates this year is the uncertain future of the death tax.

Why?  Well, under current law, the death tax is zero for 2010.  But if Congress fails to act this year, the death tax will jump to 55% next year.

This would devastate small businesses and family farms which are often rich in assets or land (which are subject to estate tax) though have relatively insubstantial capital. This means that upon the death of a family business owner, the remaining descendants are potentially forced to sell off assets, land, lay off workers--instead of investing in future endeavors for the business--in order to pay the massive death tax levy.  Learn more about the cruel, job-killing death tax here.

A member of our Jobs and Prosperity Taskforce, Eugene Sukup from Sheffield, Iowa, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal recently about how the death tax would negatively impact his company, Sukup Manufacturing:
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If you missed our Real Jobs Summit with Speaker Gingrich in Stamford, CT this week, you can still watch the video here and read this recap from the Connecticut Post.  We had a great crowd of over 800 people there as you can see from the picture slide show above.
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This week CNBC compiled its 2010 Best States for Business index, using factors ranging from business friendliness to quality of life to determine which states are the best places for entrepreneurs to set up shop. more »

American Solutions and Newt Gingrich are in Stamford, CT today for another Real Jobs Summit. If you live in the area, we hope you will join us in person for a conversation about job creation. If not, the townhall will be streaming live on our website at 6:30 PM ET tonight. 

The Real Jobs tour has stopped in seven cities so far promoting job creation solutions that lawmakers can use right now to help put people back to work.

One of the items we'll be talking about tonight is a bill introduced by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) called the Economic Freedom Act.  Instead of more big government stimulus packages, their bill is aimed specifically at those who create jobs -- small businesses and entrepreneurs. If you live in Connecticut, you should join our Real Change Chapter's Facebook Group.   


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Another month has come and gone, which brought with it another dismal jobs picture. More than 100,000 Americans lost their jobs in June, and since President Barack Obama signed his $862 billion stimulus, more than 3 million Americans have lost their jobs.

Even though some 80,000 private-sector jobs were added in June, the employment situation remains bleak. In fact, for every 1 million Americans out of work in June, only 5,600 private-sector jobs were filled. Over the last year, more than 1 million Americans have left the labor force altogether.

The staggering job loss can now be measured by "despair factors" among unemployed workers. In June 2010:
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In the second part of my interview--watch part one here--with Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), he talks about his plan for job creation:  the Economic Freedom Act (H.R. 5209).

Rep. Jordan boils the jobs debate down to a simple question:  do you trust government or do you trust people?

President Obama and leaders in Congress have tried to fix our economy through bailouts of big companies and more big government in the form of "stimulus" packages.  Rep. Jordan, on the other hand, wants to give more money back to small business owners and entrepreneurs to spur economic growth.

As Rep. Jordan said in the interview, "I've said for months, if big government spending, big government regulations, big government bailouts, big government tax increases, if that was going to get us out of this economic mess, well heck, we'd have been out of it a long time ago."

The Economic Freedom Act will help create jobs by:
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