Friends of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

SPOOKY: US debt to surpass GDP on Halloween

Happy Halloween from Friends of the U.S. Chamber. An article out last week shows that as of today, the average American's share of government debt is more than the average American makes in a year.

Talk about scary. 

As the Daily Caller says:

As children across America costume themselves as ghouls, ghosts, goblins and former North African dictators Monday night, they may have missed the most spine-chilling scare of the day. According to calculations based on the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook, on All Hallows’ Eve the United States’ total debt will surpass its Gross Domestic Product for the first time since World
War II.

That means the average American’s share of government debt is more than an average American makes in a year. Spooky!

On October 19 Bloomberg released a chart showing that per capita gross government debt would to exceed per capita GDP in the very near future.

As Bloomberg put it, “America’s bills are about to exceed its paycheck.

The Bloomberg calculations, based on IMF data from the September World Economic Outlook, showed that by 2016, debt will exceed per capita production by $8,000.

Read more online.

Ghouls, Goblins and Government Regulation

Sen. Rubio Meets with Jacksonville Small Biz Roundtable

Small businesses around the country are meeting with their members of Congress to voice their concerns and challenges in regards to growing and thriving in our current economy.  Senator Rubio, member of the Senate Small Business Committee, met with the Jacksonville small business community this week, and here’s what they had to say:

How are the small businesses in your community fairing in today’s economic environment?

Fighting Back Against the NLRB

Perhaps nothing embodies the notion of the federal government getting in the way of American job creators more than the overreach of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The most outrageous example of this overreach, of course, is the NLRB’s recent attempt to prevent the Boeing Company from establishing a new non-union aircraft production facility in South Carolina, costing the state thousands of new, good paying jobs.

The U.S. Chamber is fighting back.

As The Hill reports, “Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a round of television ads in Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia that criticized the NLRB for its Boeing complaint.”

Watch our new ad below, and share it with your friends, family and colleagues to help spread the word:

Learn more about the National Labor Relations Board here as Free Enterprise Magazine takes a look inside this little-known independent agency.

The Mic is Now Open ... for American Small Business Owners

It’s understandable that American small business owners feel like their concerns aren’t being heard.

According to the results of our past few Small Business Outlook Surveys, they’ve been asking for federal government to get out of their way ...yet the federal government has 

However, recently, one government agency has taken a step in the right direction. This week the U.S. House Small Business Committee launched their new website, Small Biz Open Mic, providing a platform for small businesses to share their story and an outlet where they know their voice matters. done the exact opposite

The More We Learn About Obamacare...

Some politicians told us that Obamacare would cut our health care costs and boost American job growth.

Nancy Pelosi told us that she’d “have to pass the bill so you that you can find out what’s in it.”

Well, over our objections and warnings, Congress passed the bill.  And what we’re finding out isn’t so good for our health care system or job creation.

Take, for instance, a new analysis by the Heritage Foundation that finds the health care bill will actually cost American jobs.

Take a look at these graphs from this analysis, which paint a troubling picture about the effects of the health care bill -- and why the dangerous employer mandate needs to be repealed:



We think Congress should take the necessary first step in reversing some of the the most harmful aspects of the healthcare overhaul. Help us urge Congress to do so by writing a letter to your members now. 

Introducing...@USChamberAction

The U.S. Chamber Grassroots team is pleased to introduce to you today the newest “member” of our communications team:  @USChamberAction!

Our grassroots network represents a lot: the strength of small businesses, the policies that promote free enterprise and the voter education necessary to elect leaders willing to fight for job creation.  And one thing strings it all together – the action that you take as a member of this community. 

That being said, starting today all tweets previously brought to you by @USCCMiller will be transitioned to @USChamberAction.   

While the name has changed, we guarantee our priorities remain the same: fighting for the job growth and free enterprise that will bring our economy and country back.

Miss a real-time tweet of a great news story?  We’ll now be providing top news and tweets from @USChamberAction on the What We’re Watching blog, as well.  Every few days we will post popular headlines from the previous days - in an effort to keep our grassroots activists up to date on the top issues. 

On that note, here are some of our favorite tweets from this morning:

• This new poll shows more people blame Washington than Wall Street for our economic problems. We agree. http://politi.co/mY2S3k
   
• The first votes in the ‘12 election? Cast on January 3. Wow: http://ow.ly/71m5R
  
  
• While your family was cutting back, Washington broke a spending record (with your $) …http://ow.ly/71m8V 

For additional tweets and real-time updates follow @USChamberAction today.  And for constant streaming to the What We’re Watching blog, subscribe to the RSS feed now.

The More Big Government Tries to Help...

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

I’m talking, of course, about our friends in the federal government.  The more they try to “help” small businesses ... the worse the situation seems to get.

At least, that’s what small businesses told us in our latest “Small Business Outlook” survey for the third quarter.

In our previous quarterly survey, small business’ outlook for the economy was pretty grim.  As you may recall, 84% of small business owners said the economy was on the wrong track, with only 19% planning to add employees over the next year.

Believe it or not, those numbers have gotten even worse.  Now, almost nine out of ten (89%) now believe the U.S. economy is on the wrong track — and only 17% expect to add employees over the next year.

There is, however, one thing that hasn’t changed: the biggest obstacle to small businesses is still big government.

In fact, small business owners still find economic uncertainty to be their most-pressing concern (53%), but also worry about uncertainty from what Washington will do next (39%), and the healthcare law (33%).

Now, for the good news: small businesses clearly see a path forward, much of which is in line with the jobs plan released by the U.S. Chamber last month. Take a look at these numbers:

• Eighty percent think increased domestic energy production would be helpful to the economy;
• 74% think speeding up permitting and regulatory relief would be helpful; 
• 67% think the same about passing tax incentives.

It’s wonderful that small business owners think favorably of our proposals to get America working again — but it’s frustrating that the White House and some in Congress don’t seem to be listening.

Rest assured that we’re doing our best to ensure that these politicians hear the voices of small business loud and clear.  

Trade Bills are Going to Congress and the Cubs Are Going to Win the World Series!

Too many times in Washington, D.C., political myths overshadow simple truths in basic policy discussions.

Take, for example, our free trade agreements.

Big Labor and other opponents of free enterprise are doing their best to put up smoke screens and half-truths to try to stop passage of our pending free trade agreements.

Sometimes, the best way to cut through the smoke screen is sticking to the basics.

In the case of this video put together by the U.S. Chamber Communications team — very basic.

As for the above headline, you’ll have to watch the video to understand why I chose that:

Introducing Friends of the U.S. Chamber's New Super Committee Site

With stagnant job growth over the last two years, an uncontrollable deficit and entitlement programs that will bankrupt our country if unaddressed – the future of our country hangs in the balance.

The Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the Super Committee could be a game changer.

 

With Congress unable to overcome its partisan stalemate, these 12 members have been tasked with the near impossible – find a common ground and cut trillions in spending to improve our fiscal health moving forward.

This is no easy task and one that will require the participation of all American citizens to ensure the committee uses this opportunity to cut spending and establish a path for entitlements and the tax code moving forward.

Our recently launched site is dedicated to giving you a voice in the debate that will shape our future and the future for generations to come.

As you’ll see, we make it easy for you to contact the committee members — and all members of Congress, as well as follow news about the committee’s progress.

The site also provides tools for you to urge elected officials to set the country on a sustainable path to deficit reduction without undermining its long term competitiveness.

This path includes meaningful entitlement reform and comprehensive tax reform that promotes, rather than hinders, American economic growth and competitiveness.

Visit our site and engage with the Super Committee today.

Few times in history have such a small group of lawmakers held the fate of our economy in the balance -- it’s up to you to hold them accountable.

We hope you’ll visit our new site today, and spread the word about this important initiative. 

Man on the Street talks to the Wall Street Protestors

Fox News provides this entertaining "man on the street" segment with interviews of the Wall Street protestors.  Please leave your reactions to this video in the comments section.

 

Wingfield on the Debt Charts Pelosi Doesn't Want you to See

Yesterday, Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Kyle Wingfield uncovered some interesting data in, ‘The debt charts Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want you to see.’ 

Wingfield writes:

For some reason, some people decided to resuscitate a chart created by Nancy Pelosi’s office about presidential responsibility for increases in the national debt. I say “for some reason,” because fact-checkers at PolitiFact had already given Pelosi a “pants on fire” rating for the chart because it massaged the underlying data and assigned it incorrectly.

It didn’t take long for the chart to be slapped down again when it resurfaced last week. But its brief revival did make me wonder how such a chart would look if it were drawn to assign responsibility for the debt to speakers of the House. There’s good reason to look at it from a congressional perspective, since Congress must pass budget legislation before the president can sign it. And it’s simpler to look at it from the House perspective, because the balance between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate changed mid-session a few times during the early 2000s.

Using the same data sources and parameters PolitiFact used to debunk Pelosi’s presidential-debt chart and declare President Obama “the undisputed debt king of the last five presidents,” here’s what I found:

 

No wonder Pelosi is so eager to look at things from a presidential perspective...

Wingfield goes on to break the data down to an annual and annualized basis -- only to reveal the same unforgiving results for Pelosi.  

Read the full article here, and leave a comment below – we’d love to hear what you think.