President Obama recently gave his address on jobs to congress, and it seems the solutions he’s presenting are more of the same that we’ve seen from the Bush and Obama administrations. What the president and congress seem to not understand is that funding, regulations, and taxes are not the biggest problems for small businesses, a lack of customers is! It’s not surprising, considering the fact that the president’s council on job creation is helmed by CEOs and board members of fortune 100 companies, with a token member who runs one of the largest labor unions in the country. There is ZERO representation from small businesses. Large businesses have essentially created zero net new jobs over the past decade- almost all new jobs in this country are being created by small businesses, so why aren’t the president and congress listening to those who actually know something about job creation? If they say that it’s too hard to find small businesses that are qualified to be representatives, that’s a problem that has a solution. Every year the SBA gives out awards to honor the best run small businesses in America- there are regional, state, and national winners for these awards (and in 2003 I was named Small Business Journalist of the Year for California.) Why not tap these business owners as a resource to give input on how the federal government can help small businesses? While I don’t claim to have the answers to the problems our economy faces, I do know what the problem is. Let’s end the focus on tax cuts, regulations, and funding, and focus on the real issue- getting more business!