DO NO HARM!

We should demand that our politicians take the same hippocratic oath when they get elected that physicians take before practicing medicine. More talk is coming out of Washington about taxing the banks that are "too big to fail", adding more stimulus funds to create jobs, creating a national health plan to provide almost universal coverage for all, and pushing for "Buy American" provisions in new spending bills. With a Democratic majority in Congress and a Republican party that is unable to articulate their own agenda, Washington is undermining the economy by trying to strong arm what has always been a market driven economy!

• When a market driven economy needs confidence, our government sows confusion.
• When it needs access to capital, our government threatens the very providers of that capital.
• When it needs favorable interest rates to finance expansion, it's deficit spending is creating future inflation that will trigger higher rates.
• When it needs assistance to export it's products, the government uses trade as a political weapon.
• When it needs continuity in tax policy, the government passes legislation increasing our debt ceiling which will lead to higher taxes.

Yes, we have gone through a very severe recession and we all have suffered. There is plenty of blame to go around and books will be written trying to pin point the culprits that got us here. The truth is that we are all guilty though unchecked greed, lack of effective regulation of our financial markets, and lack of transparency in many of the toxic instruments traded in in our financial markets. The only party not guilty of fraud, deception and greed is the market driven economy and one can argue that the plunge in our economy was the wake up call needed to pass effective legislation that will prevent this from happening again.

If the government wants to know from a small businessman what needs to be done to stimulate the economy and create jobs let me offer this:

1. Pass legislation governing the financial markets to eliminate the lack of transparency in derivative trading.
2. Consolidate the oversight responsibility to one agency and give them the power to regulate and punish offenders. And most important hold them accountable for their actions.
3. Pass health care reform without the public option because having something is still better than what we have now. This is not a blank check because there will be many needed changes to come that will hopefully drive down the costs of health care in the future. This needs to be done with a sharp eye on the costs to the taxpayer.
4. Leave tax policy as it is and recover all the stimulus money that has not been spent yet. There is no need for that reckless spending other than to curry votes for lawmakers.
5. Cut back on an overly ambitious agenda and wind the war down in the Middle East. Bring our troops home and use the savings to boost our homeland security.

Government spending does not stimulate the economy. It drives the deficit higher, raises taxes and eats into the disposable income of the consumer, the investment capital of the entrepeneur, and the shareholder value of those companies where we have placed our savings in hope for a brighter future.

In short - fix what's broken and keep your hands off the rest!