U.S. Chamber plan will create new jobs - 'right away'

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Thomas J. Donohue is not known for mincing his words, so it's no surprise to find some rather pointed suggestions in his recent letter to President Obama and Congress concerning the urgent need to create new jobs: "Americans aren't interested in empty promises or temporary, artificial government jobs that won't last but will add to the deficit. We've come up with a plan based on practical, private sector ideas that can be turned into action items to spur faster job growth immediately," Donohue wrote. Our plan gives Congress and the president a good place to start -- right away."
The two most important words in Donohue's comments are "right away." Another 402,000 people filed new unemployment claims this week, as the economy continues to creak along with recession levels of joblessness, underemployment, and mediocre growth. People are tired of hearing talk from the professional politicians in both parties, so the chamber put forth a laundry list of actions that can generate new jobs almost immediately.

The logical place to start is by expanding U.S. trade and commerce. Besides approving new free-trade deals with South Korea, Columbia and Panama, which the president and Congress finally did earlier this month, the chamber recommends eliminating all barriers to goods traded with Europe. Further, Obama should insure that the U.S. trade representative does everything possible to insure successful completion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks among the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, so that a deal can be announced next month in Honolulu.