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Health & Fitness

Massachusetts: No New Net Jobs in a Generation

Let's re-examine credit polices that have made TARP the worst piece of legislation since Reconstruction. Or, fundamentally reform the MA and Federal Tax Codes which border on dysfunctional.

Community and small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. Economy. They employ over half of all private sector workers in this country. Over the past 15 years, Starbucks estimates that small firms have created more than 64 percent of America’s new jobs in the past 15 years.

Over that same time period, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has produced zero new net jobs, effectively remaining stagnant in raw employment totals since the early 1990s.

The problem is, today, more than one in three community businesses claim they cannot receive adequate financing to jump start their enterprises, and that this credit squeeze is constricting their potential for growth.

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After winning the recent NH Presidential Primary, Mitt Romney accurately diagnosed our economic dilemma. The former Massachusetts governor said his administration would be friendlier to the middle class and would restore free-market capitalism in place of the "European social welfare state" in place now:

"The right course for America is not to divide America, to create envy to justify [the President’s] redistribution policies," Romney said. He went on to stress, "How can we make America more of an opportunity nation, how can we make America a better place for entrepreneurs and business worldwide?”

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The goal according to the Governor is for the worldwide private sector to proclaim: '…we want to come here, we want to invest in America, we want to manufacture here, and we want to make products of all kinds in this country.’

We must drastically improve the overall conditions for free enterprise and small business job creation in the Commonwealth, rather than trying to recoup prior giveaways and special tax deals to select companies or favored industries. (These failed firms may now be in bankruptcy; relocated out of MA or not fulfilling promises for new job creation). 

I would prefer to re-examine credit polices that have made TARP the worst piece of legislation since Reconstruction following the Civil War. Or, fundamentally reform the MA and Federal Tax Codes which border on dysfunctional.

Let’s get real: public policy ‘claw-backs’ amount to nothing more than an exercise in futility. How much of the $535 million in failed loan guarantees will the U.S. Taxpayer recoup on the Solyndra debacle, for example?  What about Evergreen Solar?

Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer: Don’t hold your breath. Better to avoid the bad deals altogether.

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