WASHINGTON (Sept. 13, 2010) — With the pace of job growth extremely slow and unemployment at 14.9 million people, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is initiating an Internet-based advertising campaign and its first-ever mobile texting initiative.
The effort is aimed at educating voters about the importance of the free enterprise system and helping them evaluate candidates running for public office based on their views on the economy, taxes and whether they support creating a regulatory and legislative environment that will help business create jobs.
“We are going to spend a significant amount on resources on various internet and texting related activities,” said Stan Anderson, managing director of the Chamber's year-old Campaign for Free Enterprise initiative, which hopes to create 20 million jobs over the next 10 years. “Our belief is that we will reach several million voters.”
At the heart of the campaign, unveiled Sept. 9 at the Chamber's headquarters in Washington, D.C., are a set of five questions the business organization is urging voters to ask political candidates and an online mechanism at its FreeEnterprise website that will allow voters to send those questions directly to candidates running for office this fall.
The questions are:
- Do you believe that our free enterprise system is currently threatened?
- Do you believe that tax increases hurt job creation?
- Do you think that the growth of government at all levels and the deficit that follow negatively impact job creation?
- Would you deal with the debt and deficit issues through increasing government revenue or decreasing government spending?
- Do you believe that the uncertainty resulting from pending tax increases, higher government deficits and more government regulation will hurt the economy?
The “relatively tepid job growth” the past year as the U.S. has emerged from the recession is what prompted the current initiative, said Martin Regalia, chief economist and senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber. “This has been the lowest level of job creation in the post-(World War II) era.”
It took 39 months for the economy to regain the jobs lost during the 2001 recession. To have that same type of job recovery now would require the creation of 293,000 jobs a month, Mr. Regalia said. That's more than three times the current level of job creation which has averaged 90,000 new jobs a month this year.
“At the current level of job creation, it would take 75-76 months from today to hit that target,” he said. “”We are way, way short of where we need to be to get this economy moving. Because job growth has lagged, we now need to create 293,000 jobs per month through September 2012 to match the recovery of the slowest jobs recovery post World War II.”
To help businesses and boost jobs, President Barack Obama last week proposed strengthening and making permanent the research and development tax credit for businesses, allowing businesses to write off 100 percent of equipment investments in 2011, as well as a six-year, $50 billion infrastructure spending program.
But while welcomed, that isn't enough, according to business groups including the Chamber and the National Association of Manufacturers.
“The $50 billion infrastructure proposal…could be offset by new taxes on the energy sector (and) a new tax increase on businesses will not help spur job creation or economic growth for our economy, but only make it more difficult for businesses to compete, create jobs and grow our economy,” said NAM President and CEO John Engler.
“Manufacturers desperately need incentives that will allow them to grow, invest, create jobs and compete in the global marketplace,” Mr. Engler said. “They do not need incentives that pit business against business and industry sector against industry sector with job-destroying tax increases.”
The Chamber's Mr. Anderson offered a similar view.
“I was encouraged by what (Mr. Obama) said,” Mr. Anderson said. “But the problem, frankly, is the difference between the rhetoric and the action, and I don't think the existing policies of the Administration have been very successful. We think that the business tax cuts [set to expire at the end of the year] should be maintained for a period of time until the economy improves and that there should be a reduction in corporate taxes.”
Mr. Anderson said the Chamber has also created a new video on the importance of the free enterprise system for its affiliated chamber members, designated Oct. 11-15 as Free Enterprise Week, plans to visit more than 20 college campuses in the next two months to meet with young entrepreneurs to spread the message about the importance of the free enterprise system, is on Facebook, and has redesigned its website so that it better educates voters on key issues.
“There are significant questions about the direction of this country that American voters will have to decide this fall,” Mr. Anderson said. “All of our initiatives are designed to help voters get answers to where candidates stand on issues relative to the free enterprise system. Our goal is to be an important element in educating voters on the critical issues that American voters should be asking candidates.
This report appeared in Plastics News magazine, an Akron-based sister publication of Tire Business.