Economic Growth: Obama Seeks Private/Public Sector Collaboration

By Williams Ekanem

United States President, Barack Obama is seeking private and public sector collaboration to make America the best place on earth to do business.

Addressing members of the U.S chamber of Commerce on Monday in Washington D.C, Obama said, “this is a job for all of us.”

 

According to the President, “as we work with you to make America a better place to do business, I’m hoping that all of you are thinking what you can do for America.  Ask yourselves what you can do to hire more American workers, what you can do to support the American economy and invest in this nation.  That’s what I want to talk about today –- the responsibilities we all have -- the mutual responsibilities we have -- to secure the future that we all share.”

 In sharing out the responsibilities, Obama said on the part of government, “we will help lay the foundation for you to grow and innovate and succeed.  We will upgrade our transportation and communication networks so you can move goods and information more quickly and more cheaply.  We’ll invest in education so that you can hire the most skilled, talented workers in the world.  And we’ll work to knock down barriers that make it harder for you to compete, from the tax code to the regulatory system. 

Government, he pointed out is currently making investments in the next generation of big ideas -– in biotechnology, in information technology and in clean energy technology.  We’re reforming our patent system so innovations can move more quickly to market.  

Third responsibility of government is to invest in the skills and education of our young people.  And that’s why we’re reforming K-12 education; that’s why we’re training 100,000 new math and science teachers; that’s why we’re making college more affordable, and revitalizing our community college system. 

Now, in addition to making government more affordable, we’re also making it more effective and more consumer-friendly.  We’re trying to run the governments a little bit more like you run your business -- with better technology and faster services.  So in the coming months, my administration will develop a proposal to merge, consolidate and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive America.  And we want to start with the 12 different agencies that deal with America’s exports.  If we hope to help our businesses sell more goods around the world, we should ensure we’re all pulling in the same direction.  And frankly, with 12 different agencies in charge, nobody is in charge.  So we’re going to fix that as an example of how we can make a government that’s more responsive to the American people and to American businesses,” the President said.

He also added that it is the responsibility of government break down some of the barriers that stand in the way of success.  As far as exports are concerned, that means seeking new opportunities and opening new markets for your goods, as well as removing outdated regulation.

 On the private sector side, Obama enjoined them to lead in the discovery of new ideas and products.

America’s businesses, Obama stated, “have a responsibility as well to recognize that there are some basic safeguards, some basic standards that are necessary to protect the American people from harm or exploitation.  Not every regulation is bad.  Not every regulation is burdensome on business.  A lot of the regulations that are out there are things that all of us welcome in our lives.”

While admitting differences on issues, Obama said that, “whatever differences we may have, I know that all of us share a deep, abiding belief in this country, a belief in our people, a belief in the principles that have made America’s economy the envy of the world.”

Expressing confidence in the future, he said that this is the right time to invest in America.

This is because, according to him, right now, businesses across this country are proving that America can compete.  Caterpillar is opening a new plant to build excavators in Texas that used to be shipped from Japan.  In Tennessee, Whirlpool is opening their first new U.S. factory in more than a decade.  Dow is building a new plant in Michigan to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.  A company called Geomagic, a software maker, decided to close down its overseas centers in China and Europe and move their R&D here to the United States.  These companies are bringing jobs back to our shores.  And that’s good for everybody.”