Private Business is the only True Job Creator
Let me start by saying that any jobs creation is not going to be a sprint it is going to be a marathon.
The greatest job-creation machine always has been and will continue to be private enterprise. It does not come from the government. The problem is that companies have been beat-up by the economic situation. Most economists think the worst is now behind us, but firms are still plagued by uncertainty about how fast the economy will recover. They cannot plan responsibly without knowing the bottom-line costs of the massive new initiatives out of Washington on health care reform and carbon-emission regulation. Even companies relatively financially fit often do not feel like taking the risk of ramping up operations and hiring more workers. Job creation is also a function of the labor supply. It is not just about firms wanting to hire, but also about having people they can usefully employ. We have to have a talented job pool.
• We are going to need to work with the local universities, Chamber for Commerce, GAGE, business leaders, Vectren, (local electric rates are too high), and local banks to bring jobs to Evansville.
• Real jobs; we have to be producing products. We cannot just be a service industry economy.
• We need to simplify local codes and regulations so that companies find Evansville as a place that is easy to do business. This will also help existing businesses wishing to expand.
• Allow entrepreneurs the ability to create without such a stringent local code. Set-up an internet site, (one stop shop), where they can obtain all the information, forms, and permits they need. Make as many of these forms as possible interactive so that they can be completed online.
• Put together a group comprised of people from local universities, Chamber for Commerce, GAGE, business leaders, representatives of local government, and local banks. This Group should be empowered to offer incentives, training, and financing to bring jobs to Evansville. They need to be people that are able to think outside of the box, be willing to travel around the United States and the world being cheerleaders for Evansville, Indiana. We cannot narrow our vision to within the shores of the United States of America anymore. However, we should not continue to ignore what we have. We need to visit the existing industries/businesses in Evansville to see if we can assistance them with expansion.
• Set up a business incubator to house fledgling firms, plying them with business-plan advice, contact with financiers and lots of coffee over which to share ideas and solve problems. This incubator should be set up for companies that will be producing a product, close or attached to an industrial park where they can manufacture their product.
• Establish an Evansville Growth Capital Corporation (EGCC), which would function as a one-stop resource for debt and equity financing for small businesses.
Companies do not start unless they are resourced. These new companies are key to job growth. People talk about small businesses being such great generators of jobs, but a more precise assessment is that young businesses are. John Haltiwanger, an economist at the University of Maryland, has been studying government data for 25 years and has determined that about a third of all new jobs created come from start-ups. Furthermore, young companies add jobs faster.
Lon I can promise you that Vectren isn’t lowering their rates, they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get ahead of the EPA curve, mostly because like the City of Evansville, they got sued by the EPA and reached a settlement. Fortunately they are good for the foreseeable future, unless the EPA decides we are killing too many fish taking cooling water from the river which is a distinct possibility. Other area utilities will be playing catch up in the next few years, either adding scrubbers and bag houses, or in the case of Duke actually closing and writing off some generating units. Their rates and those of the Kentucky utilities will be unfortunately rising to the level of Vectren’s or above.
and another problem I see will be the Evansville water and sewer rates. With all the EPA mandated work, especially in the 2nd ward, I’d expect them to triple in the next 10 years. It would be a better idea to bulldoze everything south of Covert Ave and west of Greenriver so we could just abandon the sewers in that area. With falling housing prices, it would probably be cheaper too.
NOW THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO READ!
Thank you for taking the time to express your “THOUGHTS, IDEAS OR WISHES”.
We need people in office that or self employed and have employee’s.
Someone please tell me what has happened to the “American Dream”.
Thanks Andymic.
The American dream is still alive, just badly wounded at this time.
for my kid’s and grandkid’s sake I deeply hope you are right
Lon,
You are an inspiration to all Evansville residents. Your story about how you started up your own small business shall be a lesson to all that hardwork, dedication, and determination will always pay off if you’re willing to work hard enough.
I’m fully behind you LON and I ask the rest of Evansville to join me!
Dear Lon, Great Analysis Dan
Thanks RailOverAuto and Dan.
Small businesses are going out of business or moving to other countries because they are over-taxed, too many government restrictions, and burdened down with too many WASTEFUL government regulations. Small businesses make up the majority of the private sector labor force. WE need good Conservatives like you to be in office who have great ideas for Evansville, For example the plan you would like to initiate the “Evansville Growth Capital Corporation”. A great idea which i whole heartedly support, and you as well.
Thanks David.
Another bomb of a “jobs plan”.
“Companies do not start unless they are resourced.” – I disagree.
We are human beings, Lon, not golden goose eggs waiting for a guvy sponsored “incubator” to hatch us into some more productive second life.
Yes, “incubation” can create a certain kind of job or a business to fill a standardized void.
But clearly, the economic rules have changed. There is little pipeline of new products just waiting for application to our market. If there was, your cookie cutter bromide laced strategy might work.
You say you want “cheerleaders” that can think out of the box? When’s the last time you saw a cheerleader that actually did any thinking, Lon? Don’t cheerleaders by definition, learn by watching – and repeat?
I see absolutely nothing conservative here. The opposite, this is just corporatist, or crony capitalist. I see more government money thrown after bad for a lack of alternatives. More government agencies, with more opportunities to chug Opus One in boozefests, with more agendas and more grease to sling.
There is not one of your to do items listed that you couldn’t have spearheaded as a citizen, is there?
Eville Taxpayer, Thank for your narrow sighted view point. You are wrong; companies do not start unless they are resourced. In my own case that was using the cash value of my life insurance policy. As to the rest of your comments you have the right to your opinion and the right to be wrong.
I didn’t think you were a recent startup, which I thought was the point.
If you’re using life, I suspect more factors are in play than being resourced.
Lon, look at the recent IPO for Linkedin. Investors handed that company billions on top of billions of excess cash… There is a free market way to get capital, but people shy away from them for, reasons.
I have a different view, yes. Time will tell which is more narrow. I do appreciate your willingness to run but also to post on here and make your case.
Eville Taxpayer, You are right I am not a recent start-up, far from it now. However, 28 years ago, I was a start-up, and I had to have money to start the company. Being that my parents were not rich, and even if they had been able to help that was not in their nature. They believed that we should work for what we wanted.
You are right about, “If you’re using life, I suspect more factors are in play than being resourced.†My use of the word cheerleader my have not been the best choice of words, I used it to portray people that would promote and praise Evansville’s. You know cheerleaders do not stop cheering just because their team is losing.
The Evansville Growth Capital Corporation (EGCC) I envisioned would be a Venture capital company not another government agency. Something we would establish, not own, or run. I do not want a bunch of fat cats chugging Opus One on my dime anymore than you do. Even Linkedin had angel investors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital
Would your business have lasted if you “established” it, and didn’t run and/or own it?
Is there anything more dangerous in a society than a government inspired group that leaves control, power and ownership to some mysterious group of power brokers?
I appreciate that cash can be hard to find for existing business. Government is increasingly focused on creating groups that can aid this or that. But it results in playing favorites. (See discussion & article linked – https://city-countyobserver.com/2011/06/21/evansville-predicted-to-fare-well-in-recovery/)
Gage, FDP, DMD, CVB… Don’t we have enough “powerful” groups that are unaccountable (in the real sense of the word) to voters? We only found out about booze fests, many years later, due to odd circumstances where leadership changed hands. Who knows what we still don’t know about.
Venture capital, at what cost? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crony_capitalism)
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