Economic Recovery from a Manufacturer’s Point of View

By Ron Johnson

As I’ve spent 31 years in the private sector as a manufacturer, I’ve been watching what’s been going on in Washington and shaking my head. But rather than continuing to place my faith in career politicians to manage our country, I decided to step forward and offer my privatesector experience as a manager of business – more specifically, a manufacturer of American products – to help better manage this country.

Fixing the damage that our reckless government has created is going to take experience in business, economics, and creating jobs. In a body like the U.S. Senate, which is supposed to represent the best interests of the American people, there’s not a single manufacturer among them. For a state like Wisconsin which relies heavily on the manufacturing industry for jobs and economic prosperity, that is a problem.

Balancing budgets and knowing how to stimulate growth and encourage development are exactly the skills we need our elected officials to hold. As a business owner, I not only value these skills, I understand their importance.

Businesses are required to abide by the rules, regulations, and taxes imposed by the career politicians, who have no real understanding about how they will affect business. Businesses and employers across Wisconsin are being threatened by more regulation, lots of new federal spending and skyrocketing debt—all of which lead to job loss and long-term high unemployment.

For real progress to be made, the days of fiscal irresponsibility and reckless spending need to come to an end.

First and foremost, to achieve economic recovery, it is crucial that we employ a freemarket driven system to encourage the growth and prosperity of our businesses. With an overabundance of new regulations and taxes, it’s no mystery as to why jobs are being cut. In many cases, it’s simply no longer profitable for companies to remain in business.

Adding insult to injury, Congress is now considering allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire at the end of the year. What these politicians fail to recognize is this will not only affect individuals earning over $250,000 a year; they’ll also hit America’s small businesses hard – these same businesses that produce approximately 75% of our country’s jobs. Extending these tax cuts and taking other job-killing policies like cap-and-trade off of the table should be the first steps we take to restore our jobs and economy.

Second, the economic stimulus our President and Congress shoved down our throats has become nothing but a costly experiment, yielding few constructive results. As Wisconsin’s own Congressman Paul Ryan estimates, our nation’s debt will average out to be roughly $500,000 per household by 2014; an appalling statistic.

Congress must face facts: the current stimulus plan is not working. Rather than furthering our debt, we must put the unspent stimulus and TARP funds toward deficit reduction. This alone would save our country billions in tax-payer dollars and help control our mountainous debt. Our government’s wasteful spending has become unrestrained and needs to stop while we still have the chance.

The way I see things, America is currently at a tipping point. If pushed one direction, we’ll fall into more financial turmoil. Coupled with unsustainable debt, I fear our country may fall deeper than we could hope to recover from. On the other hand, November could bring new opportunity for our nation - opportunity to adopt new, fiscally-conservative policies, which will result in the creation of jobs and bring economic prosperity.

This is indeed a critical point in our nation’s history. I believe that now is the time to rely on the experiences of those in the private-sector to help guide us to a more prosperous America.