President Obama: Act on Root Causes of 'Uncertaintly!'

Welcome to TishTrek - More than THE JOB BLOG!

This is an open letter to President Barack Obama & the U.S. Congress:

Please act on root causes of 'uncertainty" to create jobs in the United States of America.

Acknowledge the issues that are causing the 'uncertainty' in the market which put businesses on a path to pause and halt investments, initiatives, business plans and hiring. Then let's commit ourselves to forcing the entire Congress to address them!

1) U.S. corporate tax rates are the highest on the planet and they need to be lowered, (We just surpassed Japan in this regard). This fact is inspiring global companies to expand their business and infrastructure in emerging markets, offshore, etc. - they are researching every option outside of the U.S. where they can find a lower corp tax rate.

2) Any Federal Regulation or mandate accused of being 'Anti-Business' need to be assessed and measured against that charge. If our research concludes that the 'value proposition' of a federal regulation actually has an anti-competition and anti-business purpose which makes it anti-Capitalism, then the regulation needs to be fixed, changed, adjusted, eliminated. If that same regulation is designed so the U.S. government can favor one set of market offerings over others, or favor one company over ten others then we have to make the case to Congress to change such a regulation. Gov't shouldn't have a built-in system to enact mandates that allows it to hand-pick winners and losers. Why would I invest my money in a technology if the U.S. government is going to give my competitors built-in 'competitive advantage' in the form of legislation, waivers, mandates, funding, guarantees of gov't contracts, etc. @ the same time its putting strict limits on how my company can operate,
who I can employ, where my raw materials come from, where my facilities can be built in the U.S., etc. Why would investors risk investment money that has a 100% chance of being 'undermined' or 'lost' by unfair gov't meddling? (i.e. Unions and NLRB vs Boeing and the Unemployed in South Carolina; New and costly EPA Rules vs Profit Margins of already struggling businesses). Finally, any federal mandate like these that alter the playing field and the business landscape and that require our fellow citizens - who happen to be business owners - to pay millions of dollars in mandated upgrades or compliance fines should require the approval of the entire Congress.

3) Face Healthcare Reform without the politics: Honestly, I don't care if you are talking about HillaryCare in 1998/99; or ObamaCare now; or AARPCare tomorrow - Since the current Healthcare Reform Act applies to every citizen in the country - It remains the giant elephant in the Chief Financial Officer's office in every company and that's a problem. The CFO's team is responsible for doing the cost analysis for such programs per employee; forecasting how many employees in each plan category it will apply to for the next 3 to 5 years; what the long-term costs of administering the program will be, etc., etc, etc. I don't know a single employer who has any of these answers yet and that's a big giant problem that is contributing to 'uncertainty.' As employers, we can't calculate or forecast our benefits expenses per employee for a system that was mandated without a pricetag. All the corporate opt-outs that were granted to-date prove this point. Many financially conservative companies will wait years (if they must and some already are...) until they understand whether or not these costs will have an 'adverse impact' on profits or their overall business long-term. Many will not decide to enter new businesses, expand what they're already doing, etc. without financial clarity; Sooo I suggest we all commit to PHASE I in HealthCare Reform: That is only target the help for the people who find themselves with zero medical coverage in the U.S. right now. Until the large-scale issues of ObamaCare are resolved & until there is clarity on COST for the corporations responsible for delivering these programs, there will be no 'certainty,' (Still unknown: Outcome of Supreme Court challenges, costs, costs, costs, how we create catastrophic coverage pools for pre-existing conditions that small businesses could never carry alone without going out of business, etc). This 'damaging uncertainty' will continue to contribute to this 'Lost Decade,' but maybe we can agree on certain first steps that help the uninsured who need help by crafting some kind of Step I Program immediately.

4) Stop the shovel-ready Gov't Spending that rewards FAILURE! Gov't TARP, Stimulus Programs, 'Secret' Lending Arrangements for special clients @ our Fed Window, QE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... vs America's great companies that executed with excellence in 'risk mitigation' and didn't need bailouts. Think about it: Massive amounts of money delivered by our gov't that granted unfair 'competitive advantage' to companies who intentionally failed their shareholders, clients, employees and the economy when they bundled and sold toxic mortgages to unsuspecting investors worldwide, (It was on purpose, unethical and outrageous but Joseph Cassano's AIG Financial Products court case confirmed in 2010 that these acts were not illegal!) Some of America's winning companies were positioned to step in and acquire many of those failing companies that were in a free-fall, but the gov't prohibited that remedy in our free market by handing the losers and cheaters billions of our tax dollars... they gave them the money to continue repeating the behaviors that ruined our economy in the first place. We are either free market capitalists or we are not. Which is it? When we agree what our country believes in, then we can all agree on whether more bailouts that reward failure make sense and is the way to keep going. OR should we put the government stimulus money in the hands of corporate leaders who actually assess risk and act on it to make sure their companies survive.

What are your thoughts? Has anyone passed or changed one single law that now makes it a felony (with mandatory prison time attached) for any executive or FINRA licensed professional who knowingly and willingly fowards toxic assets onto unsuspecting investors ever again. I didn't think so. Wow - there's so much work to do to protect the future, finances & dreams of the generation that will follow us.

Respectfully submitted,
TishTrek