I picked up on a news report the other day that featured President Obama's speech before delegates attending the US Chamber of Commerce Love-Fest in the nation's capital.
Here's how the delegates received Barack: Chilly greeting. Polite applause at the end. Skepticism after he left the room.
I playfully refer to the Chamber of Commerce as The CZ & Feather Boa Set. About 99 percent of a Chamber's membership is comprised of businesses which employ five or less people. Many are sole proprietorships who rely on commissioned agents to earn their keep.
Seriously though, Chambers are The Salt of Our Economy. They perform many valuable services for their members and for their communities.
Since the Mid-term election, Barack as been sucking up to the Business Community in order to sell many of his domestic economic initiatives that focus on job creation, less government regulation, fair taxation, business investment.
Many enterprises, especially small businesses, have seen some tough, difficult times between the years 2000-2009. That's the era where the word "Down-Sizing" became vogue.
I know of one particular company that had over 200 employees on its payroll when the Millenium started. It's down to half that number of employees today after "Down-Sizing" its largely professional and well-educated work force.
It was a Pernicious Cycle: those who found themselves out-of-work slashed spending -- it was hard to justify a cash outlay for a Ten-Day cruise when you struggled to put food on the table.
What little cash that was available went to pay the mortgage. And when that cash finally dried up, Foreclosures accelerated to an unprecedented velocity, nation-wide.
People without homes didn't usually have the need to purchase homeowners' insurance. People who had been dispossessed, who had no money to speak of in the first place, usually weren't thinking about buying property/casualty lines.
Job Loss was especially chaotic for small service-oriented enterprises which traditionally depend upon consumer spending as their Life Blood. Lacking a steady paycheck, folks weren't inclined to get that bi-weekly hair cut nor have that manicure. Day Spa? Forget About it!
That same Pernicious Cycle held true for dentists, doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects, home builders, and veterinarians. People who were jobless, homeless, and dispossessed -- and the number of them was staggering -- weren't likely to participate in The Great American Consumer Society -- the backbone of our domestic economy.
They just didn't have the resources that were required -- money and credit -- to maintain their stake in The Great American Game.
The Astute Reader will undoubtedly notice that I have employed usage of the Past Tense in my assessments. That's because I firmly believe that the American Economy has turned the corner.
The GDP is rising at a healthy pace. Unemployment rates are trending downward. Consumer spending is increasing nicely. Inflation is holding steady. Most banks (notwithstanding the Mortgage Crisis) are awash with cash to lend.
Need I say anything more about the performance of the Stock Market?
I would have preferred Mr. Obama and his very capable team of economic advisers -- especially the brilliant Timothy Geithner -- to have diverted more US capital into the Foreclosure Crisis instead of using it to shore up AIG and Huge Banks under the Too Big To Fail matrix. But I understand their reasons for doing so.
Although the GOP still Pisses And Moans about it, the GE Bail-Out was a stroke of Pure Genius!
Many illuninaries within the Business Sector (Warren Buffett and Bill Gates excepted) never gave Barack & Co. due credit for acting affirmatively and decisively in pulling us all back from the brink of this nation's greatest economic threat since The Great Depression.
The business community -- especially small businesses which comprise most Chambers, had an opportunity to give the President a Standing-O, and they booted it.
The reason why they continue to sit on their hands is grist for another story...
Nevertheless, the New American Economic Renaissance will be unlike anything we have seen before.
It will be driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of Small Businesses.
It will be driven by all of the professions, trades and service-providers that I mentioned above, either by direct reference or inference.
The Obama Administration did what it could.
Now it's your turn.
In 10 words or less: America stands at the threshold of Economic Recovery.
All the Chambers of Commerce need is: encourage their members to have the courage, and the faith, to take the next necessary steps: hire when you can; invest in your communities when you can.
As the Face of the New American Economy, we're counting on ya!
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