TELEGRAPH OP ED: As expected big government programs havent done the job

Where are the jobs?

This president, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and this Congress promised us jobs and a renewed economy, but I ask you, where are the jobs?

In October we hit double-digit unemployment for the first time in 27 years. At 10.2 percent, we have no reason to believe this trend will reverse anytime soon. And what is the president going to do? Hold a jobs summit.

Across New Hampshire, families have been forced to tighten their belts as more and more Moms and Dads are unemployed or underemployed. The demand for unemployment benefits has increased so significantly that the Department of Employment Security has extended its hours and even remained open on weekends in order to process all the claims.

The response in Washington to this growing epidemic of unemployment has been astronomically ineffective. Last week, the president announced he will host a “jobs summit” in December to address the problem, but he continues to ignore the devastating consequences of his policies and those of Congress. According to a new Gallup poll, only 8 percent of Americans are encouraged in today’s job market.

In February, Congress passed a $787 billion stimulus scheme that was supposed to create immediate job growth. Now we are seeing reports that the jobs created or so-called “saved” have been grossly overreported and in some cases fabricated.

Across the country, the economy has lost 3.2 million jobs, and here in New Hampshire we are 2,000 jobs poorer than we were on the day the stimulus passed.

The health care bill passed by Congress on a Saturday night will cost us another 5.5 million jobs, and the cap-and-trade bill currently being pushed by this Congress is a jobs-crushing bill that will destroys millions more.

As some news sources begin to report signs that we may be emerging from this recession, I would remind them that a jobless recovery is no recovery at all. When business owners who have worked for years to grow successful enterprises are forced to shut down, and parents cannot put gas in the tank or food on the table, talks of an economic recovery ring hollow.

More expensive big-government, taxpayer-funded programs are not the answer. Milton Friedman once said: “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara desert, in five years there will be a shortage of sand.” He was right.

Jobs are created on Main Street, not in Washington. It is the entrepreneurial spirit of small-business owners and the innovation of the individual that leads to new job growth in America.

We need a jobs recovery. We need to decrease to cost of doing business in order to create good-paying, long-lasting jobs.

That means eliminating some of the red tape, regulations and taxes that lead to small-business owners shutting their doors. We must ease the financial burden on small-business owners by passing health insurance reform that would allow them to purchase health insurance across state lines and pool their resources to purchase benefits in bulk. We need tax incentives for small businesses that create and fill new positions.

Most of all, we need a government that approaches spending the same way we do: with caution and restraint. We must eliminate the earmark system and cut out the rampant waste and corruption that has led to an almost $12 trillion federal debt and pass a balanced budget amendment. We can no longer accept a Congress that views taxpayers as their own personal ATM machines.

When the president convenes his jobs summit in Washington next month, I would suggest he consider this time-tested piece advice: cut government spending, cut taxes, grow jobs.

The strength of a nation is measured not by her politicians, but by her people, and our nation is strong. America is a nation of grand dreams, great efforts and extraordinary accomplishments. The birthright of every American citizen is unlimited opportunity. We require bold leaders who embrace the unlimited potential of our nation to grow in prosperity and accomplishment.