In advance of President Barack Obama's speech on jobs and unemployment, Yahoo! News asked its readers and contributors to tell us what subjects they'd like to hear Obama address. Below is a first-person perspective from a reader.
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What do I want to take away from President Obama's upcoming jobs speech? I need the reassurance that Main Street USA is not just a Disney re-creation based on American history that existed once upon a time.
A promising speech will encompass the president confidently encouraging small-business owners to invest again in growing their companies. Spending my and my husband's money to expand our New England-based business in this clambering economy is laden with uncertainties.
If we believed it were safe to invest in our 18-year small business that covers Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, even in a semi-assuring economy, it would be an effective and winning alignment.
Some unemployed would have a chance at a job. We'd order a heck of a lot more product inventory, which keeps people at a U.S. factory working. (Yes, there is a factory operating right here in America). More warehouse space would be on the agenda. And we would lease a few of the hundreds of business properties that sit empty in New England.
Over time, in our distribution, sales, and service business, we did expand that way. Growing a business upward is the natural scheme of things for most owners. It would be foolish for us to say, OK. We came. We saw. We grew once. And now we are all done. That's silly. The tough reality now is that we have tabled what was formerly an enthusiastic outlook for always looking ahead.
The ongoing development of our small business was our goal forever. We continued to invest our money in expansion several times during slight downturns in the economy. However, for two years, we have not been able to justify squandering any more of our life savings on actually fostering growth in the company.
We merely maintain now the operation of the business at a minimum. It's not what my husband, and I envisioned in our 50s after building our business from the ground up. America's economy in the past, held promise for better days ahead. To gamble on this economy right now, which has all but flat lined is simply not an option-particularly, in central Massachusetts where we live.
I don't demand that President Obama announce in his jobs speech that everyone can exhale, that the economic calamity and its far-reaching effects are over. I don't expect to hear him say, "Next week, there'll be jobs for everyone in the kingdom; small-business owners grab the shoe box under the bed and invest your heart out." That's a fantasy that only happens on Disney's Main Street USA.
I do insist that President Obama take this opportunity to give the people of the country some hard-core, unarguable proof that America is coming off life support. An over-the-top number of U.S. citizens have struggled far too long now. It's shameful.
You're the president. Tell Congress to take their rightful seats in the naughty chairs. Then, show us concrete evidence that you are strengthening the economy, so I can help, too, by growing my business again.