To restart our economy and create jobs, I believe we need to: 

·       Make it easier for small businesses to start up and to conduct business. 90+% of Minnesota businesses are small businesses and small businesses create the lion share of new jobs in our state. We need to streamline and reduce the costs of complying with government regulations to help create new small businesses and help existing small businesses survive.

·       We need to find ways to keep more money in the pockets of lower and middle class citizens. Economic growth is measured by how fast and frequently money changes hands in the economy. Money in the hands of lower and middle class consumers gets spent faster and more frequently than money in the hands of the wealthy, who are more biased to investing than consuming. If we want to create jobs and economic growth, we need to keep money in the segments of the economy where it will be spent the fastest. Without consumer spending, we won’t get growth and jobs. Our economic pyramid is built on a foundation of consumers.

·       We need to make sure we extend our state dollars with Federal dollars whenever possible. For every dollar Minnesotans pay in Federal taxes, we typically only get $0.75 back. We are historically one of the five worst states at getting federal dollars paid to come back to the state, while states like Alaska, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Dakota, get over $1.50 back for every dollar their citizens pay in taxes.

 We need to reduce healthcare costs

• Healthcare costs are draining our wallets, making our businesses less competitive, and forcing thousands of us into making the no win choice between eating and shelter or health. Just as cigarettes cause cancer, excessive fat, sugar and salt in our diets are causing us to become obese and increasing our rates of diabetes and heart disease, which is driving our healthcare costs up. We need to acknowledge the societal costs associated with the consumption of fat, sugar and salt and use taxes on these items to help lower healthcare costs and to provide economic disincentives to excessive consumption.

We need to stop giving only carrots and wisely use sticks as disincentives.

• While green energy and construction may be our future, we can not afford to subsidize the creation of a nationwide or global leading industry on the backs of taxes we paid for schools, roads and safety. If we are going green, we need to use taxes and penalties for not being green to fund going green. If politicians don’t have the courage to put carrots and sticks behind their visions for the future, they are just wasting our tax dollars.

• While education needs extra funding, we need commitments on meaningful measurable progress in the education of our students.  We need reform that focuses on key skills of collaborative team work, creativity, and development of critical thinking skills.  

• Healthcare costs are draining our wallets, making our businesses less competitive, and forcing thousands of us into making the no win choice between eating and shelter or health. Just as cigarettes cause cancer, excessive fat, sugar and salt in our diets are causing us to become obese and increasing our rates of diabetes and heart disease, which is driving our healthcare costs up. We need to acknowledge the societal costs associated with the consumption of fat, sugar and salt and use taxes on these items to help lower healthcare costs and to provide economic disincentives to excessive consumption.