Bail Out Small Business
Dear President Obama,
We Americans are all trying to come to grips with the train-wreck that is our economy, and I wish you well as you contemplate the challenges that lie ahead.
Everyone’s forming opinions about what we should do, so I might as well throw mine in.
The media informs me that you are contemplating a Works Progress Administration-style program as a cornerstone of your policy. It certainly has its merits as a way of getting people back to work and getting money circulating again.
But the effects will be transitory at best. The jobs will eventually go away, leaving us with another hole to fill. The administration of such a program will require a large federal bureaucracy. We all know how efficient that would be. We also know how such jobs tend to hang around long after the need has dissolved.
Do the taxpayers really need that burden?
Every critique needs an alternative, so here’s mine. Instead of a works program, how about a tax break for the small and midsize businesses that have become the engines of creativity and innovation in our country? Give these people a fraction of the money you propose to throw into the works program, and they’ll make things happen fast.
They all run their businesses lean and mean out of necessity. They’re all cash and capital starved. They’re the last people the banks consider for a loan. They have minds bursting with ideas that they can’t implement for lack of capital.
We don’t just need to create jobs,we need to create lasting jobs, and new industries to replace the ones that have been lost overseas.
An investment in small and midsize businesses would generate much greater gains at a fraction of the cost.
Yes, we need to rebuild our infrastructure. But my plan would drive massive new tax revenues into state treasuries for the purpose. Why create a bloated bureaucracy when efficient organizations already exist that just need a boost?
Given your just-issued warning to the nation about trillion dollar deficits for years to come, I think my suggestion is quite apropos.
Al Walsh
Chief executive, Walsh Enterprises Business Advisors
Huntington Beach
Fullerton’s Pension Move
Common sense, good judgment and civil discourse prevailed recently as the Fullerton City Council unanimously rejected a proposed increase in public employee pensions.
Councilmember Sharon Quirk said it “would not be good management of our fiscal resources” to grant the increase.
Councilmember F. Richard Jones said, “There is no way I could vote for this under current circumstances.”
Councilmember Pam Keller said “it would be fiscally irresponsible” to vote for it.
Mayor Don Bankhead said, “It is unfortunate that we can’t grant it,” and lamented what he believed to be “insulting” commentary about the issue.
Councilmember Shawn Nelson said “voters approved Orange County Measure J (which gives voters approval authority over future pension increases to county employees) by a margin of three to one. It is clear that voters don’t want elected officials to have final approval” because they have failed to curtail excessive benefits. He suggested that “Fullerton needs a city version of Measure J.”
OCTax congratulates the Fullerton City Council on its good stewardship of taxpayers’ money and its fair treatment of city employees.
Reed Royalty
President, Orange County Taxpayers Association
San Juan Capistrano
