A friend of mine and someone in the recruiting industry
told me that business has picked up significantly in Silicon Valley amongst
firms trying to place people in technology jobs. Good paying technology jobs. I
am glad the high technology sector in California is stronger today than the
last several years. That is a good
thing. If only that was true in other sectors like manufacturing and food
processing for example. Setting politics aside, I work with a lot of business
concerns in many different industries both inside and outside of California and
I know from my direct experience that many firms are not hiring or in fact
still laying off employees. This is happening at different levels and to different
extents all over the U.S. Let's hope
that various sectors of our national economy pick up and more folks who want
work can find it. Let us not bury our collective heads in the sand when we see
trends that do not comport with our political philosophy. Whether or not you
are a Republican or a Democrat who supported the Affordable Care Act, the fact
remains that many businesses are quite concerned over how it will impact them. Combine
this with all the uncertainty over our country’s tax policy going forward and
it is no wonder that the unemployment rate in certain industries has been very
stubborn. Private enterprise operates effectively and successfully when it
makes a profit. It does not have the luxury of the taxpayers as a back stop. When
a firm can no longer sustain a certain level of employment, they let people go.
It is the hardest thing a business owner ever has to do.
My heart goes out to those folks who have lost
their job in this terrible economy and who will lose their job they currently
have due to bad economic circumstances and due to various factors including
public policy decisions, or lack thereof, made by our elected officials. They still
need to put food on their table and pay the rent no matter who their representatives
are and no matter what political party they belong to. We need to keep the
pressure on our political leaders at the state and local level to enact
policies that will help capital formation, business expansion and hiring of new
employees. We need our political leaders to adopt policies that will promote stability
and certainty over how they will be taxed and regulated. Now is not the time to
put on rose colored eye glasses and pretend that OUR political party has all
the answers. President Obama is the first President ever to be reelected with a
smaller percentage of the popular vote than their first term. This says
something about how the average American feels about their government leaders.
Let’s hope they get the message loud and clear in Washington D.C.
Tom Sheehy
