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News this Week: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

What should you be paying attention to this week?

Whether you agree with his politics or not, I hope you watched Thursday's speech by President Obama.

Photo: Flickr user Buggolo
There are a number of things to think about.

1) If you're a small employer, there's a proposed tax cut for hiring anyone who's been unemployed for six months or more.

2) For manufacturers, the President has proposed making it easier to export your products all over the world.

3) If you're a visionary, Obama wants to make getting patents quicker and simpler.

4) More controversially, the President has called upon the richest of the rich and the largest, most profitable corporations to "do their part" and pay more taxes.

5) For the rest of us, a proposed income tax cut should save most families about $1500 next year.

6) There was also a great marketing angle to this speech. Obama repeated the words "Pass this jobs bill" many times. "Pass this bill now," he said again and again. He clearly messaged what he wanted and why. We can all take a cue from that.

What does this mean for your business?

It's hard to say. Certainly, the Republicans will oppose the plan, but Obama has also employed some strong rhetorical strategy - according to the President, people who are against the American Jobs Act are against building infrastructure, supporting products that are made in the USA by Americans, business tax cuts, and shoring up our educational system so we can be more globally competitive. Watch for a Republican alternative plan building on the prebuttal they already released, coming ASAP.

It will be interesting to see what the American Jobs Act looks like in the end, and how it will be paid for.

What do you think?

We can't end this week without considering how September 11th has affected all of us, our families, our lives, and our businesses. We all have our own memories of that day, and this is a good time to reflect on how we can value each other more and appreciate each other's differences.

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