Creating Jobs

This week, I attended a White House meeting to discuss job creation with President Obama and Republicans and Democrats from the Senate and House of Representatives.  

I made two points during the meeting in the Cabinet Room.  I told the President that it would be very helpful if he did what he did a year ago and announce that there won’t be any tax increases because of their detrimental effect.  Certainty of tax policy is good for the economy.  From the perspective of small businesses looking to expand employment, certainty of low taxation levels is much better than uncertainty about ever higher tax levels.

I also urged the President to move forward on pending international trade agreements, especially with South Korea.  There’s been too much dithering here, and while the United States is sitting on the sidelines, Europe has negotiated with South Korea and is in a position to go ahead and take the export opportunities that the United States will miss.  This is especially bad for agriculture, including pork.