Does Business Need To Take The Lead?

Commentary By Ron Beasley

The New York Times editorial board gets it right: Wanted: Leadership on Jobs

By every meaningful measure, the weak job market deteriorated further
in September. Federal stimulus spending has prevented an even worse
decline. But that is cold comfort for the tens of millions of working
men and women for whom conditions are bleak and getting bleaker, and
for the millions more who are destined to lose their jobs � or to have
their hours and compensation cut � in the months and years to come.

Congress must enact emergency unemployment benefits without delay.
Equally important, the Obama administration must flesh out its
commitment to ensure that economic recovery does not leave middle-class
and low-income families behind.

And this is so true:

A shrinking labor force represents a tremendous waste of talent and
potential, a loss of value that will not be entirely retrievable.
Widespread joblessness among men is particularly devastating for the
economy and many families, because men tend to earn more than women and
to have jobs offering health insurance.

They come close to identifying the major problem - Health Insurance - and do the same here:

If successful, ambitious goals like health care reform and energy
legislation may generate jobs, but officials have not persuasively
linked them to job growth. Congress and the administration also have
not done enough to directly create jobs.

But they still can't bring themselves to identify one of the major things that is holding the economy and real health care reform back - employer centered health insurance.  The current system dating from WWII both costs business and makes the actual cost of health care all but invisible to a majority of Americans.  American business caries a burden that not other country requires of their companies - health insurance.  This make them less competitive on the international stage. The major reason you can build a car in Canada for 15% less than in the US is health insurance.  But Americans like their employer health insurance which is probably why Obama did not threaten it.  So if the politicians won't correct the situation who can? The business community itself.  Most small and many medium sized companies have already been priced out of employer health insurance.  If the larger employers and yes the government radically scale back their insurance coverage they may be able to save both the US economy and real health care reform.