Trade abroad, investment at home

What are the top three priorities for American business in 2010? Jobs, jobs, jobs. Our country will need to produce 20 million jobs in the next decade to replace the 7 million lost in the recession and the 13 million that will come from a growing population.

From kitchen tables to boardrooms to the halls of Congress, everyone is talking about jobs. But talk won’t cut it. We need action. The private sector can create these jobs with the help of smart government policies. President Barack Obama got it exactly right when he said: “Job creation will ultimately depend on the real job creators: businesses across America.”

{mosads}To help those businesses, Congress can start by removing the tremendous amount of uncertainty generated by its aggressive and far-reaching agenda.

In less than a year, Congress has proposed reforming the entire healthcare industry, one-sixth of our economy. It has offered an expensive and unworkable cap-and-trade plan that would cost jobs and money with little impact on the environment. Legislation was introduced eliminating the secret ballot in unionization elections. It has proposed trillions of dollars in new taxes and provided no certainty about extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

If you were an entrepreneur, small business, or even a large company, wouldn’t you wait on the sidelines to see how this all shakes out? To understand what your tax, healthcare, energy, and workplace obligations will be? Uncertainty is the enemy of investment and hiring.

Although private enterprise will always be the primary motor behind job creation, Washington can help get the ball rolling. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has outlined a realistic plan to create the 20 million jobs we’ll need to put people back to work and grow the economy — it’s called a Strategy for New American Jobs.

The strategy starts by building on one of our great strengths —exporting. We need to double U.S. exports over the next five years and then double them again. We’ve done it before and we must do it again. To achieve this goal, we need to get off the dime when it comes to free trade agreements, which eliminate barriers to U.S. products and services overseas. Congress is currently sitting on three excellent agreements that would greatly benefit our economy and create jobs. If we fail to approve deals with Korea, Colombia and Panama, we will not only miss opportunities to create new jobs — we will lose existing ones.

Second, we need to rebuild America’s infrastructure, the physical platform on which the entire economy rests. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives our system an embarrassing grade of “D.” Our highways, bridges, air traffic control system, ports and airports, and electricity grid are falling apart and must be modernized.

America trails other developed countries in broadband penetration. We need a revolution in the way we fund these vital programs. All options should be on the table, including increasing the gas tax and encouraging private-sector investment. The gas tax — which is really a fee paid only by users of the system — hasn’t been increased in 17 years, even as our roads and bridges crumble. If we removed regulatory impediments, the private sector might invest up to $180 billion in equity capital into infrastructure, which could support more than 1.5 million jobs over 10 years.

Third, we must invest in green technologies that will help produce more clean, affordable American energy, while acknowledging that we will continue to rely on fossil fuels for years to come. Nuclear energy — which emits zero greenhouse gasses — can play an important role in meeting our energy needs, keeping our economy strong, and creating jobs. But very little will get done until we conquer the “not in my backyard” mentality that has delayed, obstructed and undermined energy development. In fact, environmentalists and others have even delayed green energy projects like wind and solar.

Fourth, we must revitalize our capital markets. We need strong consumer and investor protections, reasonable rules governing risk taking, and strong enforcement. What we don’t need to do is strangle businesses with layers upon layers of overlapping regulations and eliminate all legitimate risk-taking.

{mosads}Without access to affordable, plentiful capital, businesses will not be able to make investments, grow their businesses and create jobs.

In today’s uncertain environment, it’s not surprising businesses are reluctant to invest and hire. Government can eliminate uncertainty by pursuing a reasonable, pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda that includes an emphasis on exports, infrastructure investment, green technologies and sound capital markets.

Despite today’s challenges, I’m bullish on America. Given the right tools, businesses can unleash a new wave of investment, innovation, and prosperity that will create unprecedented opportunities and great jobs for our people.

Donohue is the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.