How Entrepreneurs Are Going to Kickstart America's Employment Rate

Summer is coming to a close. Back to school sales are springing up everywhere. BBQ briquettes are smoldering, lemons are being squeezed, and beer is on ice. Boats. Bikes. Tents. No matter how you celebrate, take a minute to remember American workers, past, present and future. Take a minute to remember the “99ers” whose lifeblood is threatened by members of Congress who earn more than five times the average American.

The 7.4% unemployment rate shouts one clear fact. There are not enough jobs for everyone who needs one. And no matter what you hear about the free market, incentives, taxes or even immigration, the truth is, there is only one way to push through this economy: entrepreneurship. Everything else is just a bright shiny object meant to distract you from one simple point: Congress is made up of a bunch of people who don’t understand how to create and keep jobs in America.

President Grover Cleveland established Labor Day as a celebration of "the strength and esprit de corps” of American workers and their families. But the first decade of the 21st century will go down as one marked by an unusual assault on American jobs. We have seen over 50,000 workplace deaths. We have seen an absolute stranglehold on lines of credit. We have been subject to bold and backdoor bailouts for mismanaged companies who grew too big to fail by cooking the books. We have runaway bonuses that incentivize unethical business practices.

Millions of people are still out of work with more than that underemployed. Entrepreneurs stand at the ready with brilliant, economy-changing ideas but no access to capital. Special interests and stock prices have muscled out ethics. And still Congress bickers, grandstands, sequesters, and threatens a complete shutdown. Where’s the esprit de corps in that for the American people?

In business terms, getting people back to work is a revenue-generating investment that pays big dividends for taxpayers. People who work save more, spend more and, yes, pay more taxes. In fact, research shows that for every $1,200 in taxpayer dollars invested in putting a person back to work, taxpayers are paid back through payroll taxes within one year of a person working full-time at $10.00 per hour.

When we reintroduce the American dreamer to the American worker, we will once again be witness to the unstoppable, undeniable American spirit. Because the beauty of the ivory tower doesn’t come from those who sit in it, but through the hands of those who built it.