State of the Union: A Personal Perspective

I work for a small business in Phoenix. We currently have sixteen employees: the owner, his wife, and fourteen others including me.

Coincidentally, President Barack Hussein Obama used a case like my workplace as an example of how we as a nation can gauge the economic stability and job growth created by the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009."

The President claimed that a small business in Phoenix will "triple its workforce" since the passing of the "stimulus" bill.

He may not have been speaking of my workplace, but to borrow his words - "Let me be clear."

We have not tripled our workforce since the stimulus bill was passed. In fact, we have since laid off five people due to the decline in revenue.

Our last month of good business before the economy collapsed was February 2009. In March, our revenues went into the tank. This timeline happens to coincide with the passing of that very bill he claims is propping up small businesses and "creating and saving" jobs. President Obama signed that $787 billion monstrosity into law on February 17, 2009.

Half or more of us are currently working four day work weeks, with the possibility of a fifth day based only on business demand. We have not worked five day work weeks consistently since the first week of March 2009.

To be fair, I do not blame all of this on the current administration, nor do I consider it fair to assign blame completely on the Bush administration. Our economy has suffered due to over thirty years of bad economic policy, beginning with the irresponsible policy enacted during the Carter administration known as the Community Reinvestment Act, which was the beginning of what ultimately has come to be known as the busting of the housing bubble.

Additionally, our trade agreements have not been created with America's best interests in mind, and now because of the tax laws on imports and exports, American companies to which my workplace sells product have moved their operations overseas, making our business more difficult and more expensive.

Mr. President, I welcome your populist ideas regarding imports and exports in the sense that your words sound good. I agree that it is vital that we improve our business relationships with foreign nations, while maintaining the integrity of America as the best nation in the world in which to do business.

I fully acknowledge that I am no economist, but I know enough to understand that the most important thing our federal government can do to stimulate job growth is to get out of the way.

Please do not attempt to create jobs with another "stimulus" plan, we've suffered enough from the first one.

Please do not ask Congress for a "jobs bill," there is no such thing as a bill without spending, and you can not legislate employment unless it is at the government level. Tonight you've declared a freeze on discretionary spending and presented yourself as a fiscally responsible leader. Fiscal responsibility does not include more spending, and you are likely to only add more to the deficit as you try to increase your poll numbers by adding more members of the federal employees union.

Mr. President, we currently owe approximately $40,000 in debt for each individual legally residing in The United States. Right now what we need more than anything is for our government to reduce spending in every way possible, lower income taxes so we have more money in our pockets to spend in the American marketplace, step aside, and let us get to the business of rebuilding our economy.

Until our federal government stops babysitting us and begins to allow us to be the greatest innovators in the world, we will continue this downward spiral toward political division, fiscal instability, and mediocrity.