Issue Position: Jobs and the Economy

Issue Position

PRIORITY NUMBER ONE: JOBS AND A STRONGER ECONOMY
Over the past three years, our economy has really struggled. Our middle class families have been hit and hit hard. Although North Carolina and Wake County are doing better than many parts of the country, we are feeling the effects of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. As of September 2010, NC's unemployment rate is 9.7%, steadily decreasing from 10.9% a year earlier, but still higher than we would like.

We must get people back to work.

My priority is to create permanent jobs and an environment that sustains job creation, including developing programs to promote and support start-ups and small businesses. Our best opportunities come from within:

Nurturing our own start-up businesses and accelerating the growth of our small businesses. Those jobs rarely pack up and relocate overseas.
Developing our workforce through public education and the community colleges.
We must make sure our small businesses grow and succeed. That's where the job growth is and that's what we need to be doing to make sure that Main Street can survive and help us grow out of this recession.

I've proposed a new small business initiative designed to help existing small businesses across North Carolina create jobs by easing access to credit so that people who want to start a business can get the help they need.

But, I've also taken steps to reduce the hardship of the economic downturn on our citizens, especially homeowners. By most reasoning, we're in the mess because of the collapse of the housing bubble and many North Carolinians are suffering under the weight of subprime mortgages and lenders who believe they are out of options. Very few benefit from foreclosures: homeowners are evicted, lenders lose valuable assets, and and neighborhoods lose value. In both the House and Senate, I've passed legislation to bring homeowners and lenders an opportunity to resolve their differences outside of the judicial process.

I am focused on helping build a stronger economy right here at home and will keep fighting for Wake County.

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