As a memeber of the Entrepreneur's Organization (EO), I had the opportunity to spend the morning with Congressman Walt Minnick, a freshman Democrat Congressman from Idaho. Interestingly enough, he has voted against his part much of the time when it comes to bailouts and the economy. He is the former CEO of TJ International and a fierce supporter of small business.
While we didn't necessarily agree on everything (outsourcing for example, he feels free trade is the ultimate answer and that leveling the playing field is the best way to do that. I sort of agree, but believe for example creating uniform safety or human rights standards to which China in his example conforms to is highly unlikely soon if ever. In the meantime we continue to allow them to compete unfairly for jobs that could be done here. I agree that we need to get aggressive and competitive again and not be too protectionist but not to the exclusion of good business and economic sense).
In my opinion there are many people here in the United States in small towns and economically challenged area who would do the jobs and who could be compensated properly and not spend more than we are paying outsourced companies. I'm not a total fan of eliminating outsourcing but we need to be very cautious in my opinion.
Mr. Minnick is optimistic that we'll see the beginning of positive change in the economy in about six months. He completely opposes earmarks and is very skeptical of the bailouts both laudable. His ardent support of small business and education make him someone to watch. His willingness to stand up for what is right, to reach across the aisle and to vote against bad legislation is what we need to see more of in Congressmen and Senators. His example is a great one we can all hold our elected officials to.
MESSAGE
Posted by: golovino | June 09, 2009 at 06:01 AM