Martha's Blog

Let's Get Our Economy Out of Neutral

While the national unemployment rate leveled off just below 10%, this week it was announced that Alabama’s unemployment rose to 11.1% in January.  Alabama continues to be among the states hit hardest by the current economic downturn, and the leadership in Washington continues to spin their wheels. 

Unfortunately, the bleak job numbers don’t even tell the full story.  From January 2009 to January 2010, the numbers in the workforce fell by about 90,000—a number that largely reflects people who have given up looking for work.  If those people are added to the equation, Alabama’s unemployment rate rises to a staggering 14.8%.

The Democrats in Washington think that the answer to every problem our country faces is to make government bigger, more powerful, and more intrusive in our day-to-day lives.  My experiences on the Montgomery City Council have taught me that a bigger, more powerful government only spends more taxpayer money and stands in the way of innovation and growth.

The fact of the matter is that Americans need jobs—and Alabamans are no exception.  As your Congressman, I will fight to get government out of the way so entrepreneurs and small businesses can operate their businesses and create jobs.  This includes fighting job-killing mandates, such as those included in the health care legislation, which would force small businesses to provide health insurance to employees.  Mandates like this would force already-struggling small businesses to further cut their payrolls just to stay in business, and even more jobs would be lost.

Our economy is stuck in neutral, yet Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are fixated on pushing through policies that are counterproductive. We need some common sense. Let’s make it easier for the private sector to create jobs, not more difficult.