Hey, Chamber of Commerce, it's a 2 way street.

[Old and In the Way]

I know you spend most of your time lobbying Congress to give business tax breaks, less regulation, etc. But, here's a concept - How about lobbying businesses to hire more people? If Big Government shouldn't be messing with stuff like unemployment compensation when 10% of the people are out of work, why not make an across-the-board 5% employment hiring goal a voluntary business objective? Big Business is, after all, sitting on a $1.2TT cash cushion. Why not help the country and help themselves at the same time? A goal of immediately hiring 50% of the available workforce will provide a significant boost to the domestic economy...and you would benefit from a surge of consumer demand that happens when people get jobs and start feeling better about future economic news. Why, it might spur demand for more employees and get the rest of the people who want jobs a chance. This should be a no-brainer for every business and the Chamber of Congress should be making this a hi-profile goal that can be monitored and measured.

Because, if Big Business won't turn things around, Big Government has to.

[Angry Dragon]

1. Excellent rebuttal to their propagada

[econoclast]

2. A note on the corporate cash cache

It is true that corporate America is indeed sitting on1.2 trillion ( or thereabouts ) in cash, BUT as a percentage of corporate debt outstanding it is not out of line. Works out to something like 23% of corporate debt outstanding. Right about where it was in 2003. Didn't we just live through an episode where we learned the hazards of operating with an inadequate cash cushion?

Be careful what you wish for.