The Washington Post has a story today headlined: "Business leaders say Obama's economic policies stifle growth."Ivan G. Seidenberg, the head of Verizon Communications, said that potential tax increases and new regulations will hurt economic growth and "harm our ability . . . to grow private-sector jobs in the U.S."
The Verizon CEO is chairman of the Business Roundtable, which met in Washington on Tuesday. Seidenberg said that Democrats are creating an "increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation." According to the Post, Seidenberg and the Business Roundtable have been an allies of Obama's in the past.
So why the reversal?
It appears it's almost impossible to strike a healthy balance between prudent regulation of businesses and allowing companies the freedoms and perks they say they need to expand. Without expansion, job creation will be slow. But without regulations, economic catastrophes are bound to happen.
It is understandable why Obama is pushing hard in one direction and big business is pushing back. Deregulation has had a lot to do with the economic mess were in. Obama wants to close some loopholes and make sure corporations pay their fair share of taxes. Seems to make sense to me, but then again, I am not a CEO.
Perhaps businesses need to start looking for greater efficiencies so that they don't require handouts and overly friendly policies from the government in order to turn a profit. Almost anyone who has ever worked for a large company knows there is waste. Eliminating the waste is one way to improve bottom lines.
More out-of-the-box thinking is what is needed in business today. Of course, the government should not be working against fair-minded businesses, but some commonsense regulations are needed in order to create a level and competitive playing field. Regulations keep the public safe. They provide boundaries that curtail certain workplace abuses. To think that removing regulations will solve all our problems is shortsighted at best. It would be like removing the referees from football. Sure, the game might be more exciting in some ways without penalties and instant-replay reviews, but the long-term effects would not be positive.
No comments:
Post a Comment