Federal Policies Could Create Another Recession
By BILL BOLLING, lieutenant governor of Virginia, Sept. 28, 2010
President Obama will be visiting Richmond tomorrow to talk about his plans to get America’s economy moving again. If the president is really serious about creating jobs, he should start by abandoning the anti-business policies his administration has promoted over the past 18 months.
As Virginia’s chief jobs creation officer, I have probably met with more CEOs over the past eight months than anyone in our state. Almost every CEO I have met with has told me the same thing — they are ready to invest and they are ready to hire but they are afraid to do so because of the anti-business policies being promoted in Washington, D.C.
If someone had sat down 18 months ago and devised a plan to destroy American business, it would look much like the policies currently being promoted in Washington. I’m not suggesting that anyone has pursued these anti-business policies intentionally, but their effect is to create an anti-business environment that could drive our economy back into recession.
Washington’s anti-business march started with the promotion of card check and cap-and-trade. Card check could result in the widespread unionization of American business, which would drive up costs and drive down profitability; while cap-and-trade would result in higher energy costs for businesses and families and make it difficult to produce energy through conventional sources like coal.
Washington’s anti-business march continued to include the misguided federal health care reform bill, with significant mandates, fines, and penalties that penalize businesses for hiring; and a financial regulatory bill that has created an environment that could cause many of our financial institutions to look for locations outside the United States.
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"Federal Policies Could Create Another Recession"
