Commerce Secretary John Bryson The Commerce CEO’s Vision for Job Creation: Build it Here. Sell it Everywhere.
As we gather here today, one challenge stands above the rest: Putting Americans back to work.
This has been President Obama’s focus since the moment he took office amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
It will be our focus every day at the Commerce Department.
When Americans can't find work, when they can’t forge a career path, it ruins lives.
Nearly every American has a family member or a friend who is without a job.
They know how hard it is.
But high unemployment isn’t just bad for individuals and families.
It’s bad for business.
High unemployment will damage the profitability and even the viability of many businesses large and small.
We, as a country, must act now to maintain America’s hard-earned position as the strongest economy in the world.
A challenge this urgent requires leaders in Washington to put aside business-as-usual.
That is what the American people expect and it’s what they deserve.
The world I just left – and the world you are all in – is about results. Business leaders are judged by their ability to manage challenges and to take reasonable, tough-minded risks to grow their businesses.
I remember the biggest challenge I faced as CEO of Edison International – the California energy crisis of 2000 and 2001.
Market manipulation - led by Enron - had drastically reduced the supply of electricity. Wholesale electricity prices jumped as much as 800 percent.
Californians expected their utility to fix the problem. They didn’t want to hear whose fault it was. And they didn’t want excuses.
It wasn’t easy - but we worked day and night to keep the lights on. The availability of power – in that year and a half - changed each hour. If we did not succeed in keeping the lights on, businesses would close and we would fail our customers.
We acted with urgency because that is what our customers and shareholders rightfully demanded of us.
When I hear business people express their frustration about Washington – it’s the lack of urgency and lack of focus on results that bothers them the most.
As you and I know, business people are generally pragmatic, not partisan.
What they care about—what gets you all up in the morning—is finding new opportunities to strengthen and grow their businesses and to solve problems.
When they don’t see this same intensely focused commitment to practical results in Washington, they get frustrated.
I get this frustration. So does the president.
That’s why President Obama has recently taken a series of actions to get people back to work and back on their feet.
Because the president knows – as every American knows – that we can’t just do nothing waiting for this Congress to act.
But the president is not giving up on Congress either. He will keep urging Congress to pass critical elements of the American Jobs Act – including the extension of the payroll tax cut.
And he’ll also continue to push important priorities for the business community – including building a tax code that is more competitive internationally.
We need to get rid of the loopholes, and use those savings to lower the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years.
At the Commerce Department, we aren't waiting to act either. We have a major role to play at this critical time to support job creation in America.
We have an array of tools to help make our businesses more innovative, more efficient, and more competitive around the world.
And if you have questions or concerns that need to be addressed, my door will be open and I will advocate on your behalf.
I have been speaking almost daily to owners of businesses large and small since taking my new position. I want to know how this administration and the Commerce Department can best help you.
From these conversations, my discussions with the president and my own personal experience, I will prioritize one simple imperative.
We need to help American businesses build it here and sell it everywhere.
Building it here and selling it everywhere is how the United States became the world’s greatest economic power in the 20th century.
Here in the 21st century, the competition has changed, the circumstances have changed and America itself has changed. But the ingredients for a strong economy that creates good jobs have not.
We must be able to build things, and we must be able to sell them competitively – not only here at home – but in markets around the world.
To help American businesses build it here and sell it everywhere, there are three areas in particular that the Commerce Department will be focused on in the months ahead:
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
