Issue Position: Jobs

Issue Position

Growing up in Syracuse, I worked at my family's electroplating business and saw first hand the struggles to start a business, make payroll, and expand. To get our economy back on track, we've got to create an environment that makes it easier for small businesses to create jobs.

That means cutting pointless regulations and red tape wherever we can, and providing smart tax incentives for those small businesses that create new jobs. We also need to build on the good things that the Small Business Administration does, giving entrepreneurs access to loans and support, so they can turn their ideas and hard work into profits and new employees.

We also must capitalize on the tremendous resources that are already here in Central New York. We have several world-class universities, businesses and hospitals, and our area is home to a highly skilled workforce. Enabling people to travel to and from our region is essential to growing our companies and attracting talented people to start new businesses here. Infrastructure investment will create jobs today, and will set the stage for tomorrow's economic growth.

During the Great Depression America built some of its most important and lasting infrastructure. Today, even in the face of trying times, we must not shirk our responsibility to invest in our future and the economy of our children. The history of Central and Western New York offers tremendous insight into the value of useful investment in our future. In the early 1800s Americans struggled to transport goods and people to and from the interior of the country. Several projects were promoted to bring the goods of the West to market, but all were panned as unfeasible or too expensive. Finally in 1817, even after President Thomas Jefferson had rejected the plan, Governor Dewitt Clinton and the New York State Legislature passed bills providing $7 million to build the Erie Canal. Many so-called experts ridiculed them and called the Erie Canal "Clinton's Ditch." By 1825 the Canal was up and running, and it immediately surpassed the maximum expected freight traffic. In the ensuing years the investment was paid back to New York many times over. Today, its beneficial effects in promoting the growth of the State and the National economy are uncontested.

In the years since the building of the Canal, Central New York has seen further waves of infrastructure development through freight and passenger rail, and the more recent introduction of the Interstate system. However, today our infrastructure is aging and it no longer serves our needs or the future of our economy. It's time for a new approach.

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