Why pro-business is not anti-worker
Supporting the economy isn’t a partisan issue—so why has it become one?
In Delaware, “pro-business” is frequently tied to “anti-worker,” but the opposite is true.
Who employs these workers that we want to support? Businesses!
By hurting these employers, workers and their families suffer lower incomes, less hours, and even layoffs.
Think of it this way: if the government passed a restrictive regulation on public housing, there would be an uproar about its impact on the recipients of that program and their access to housing. The move would be seen as one that hurts the people, or an “attack” on lower-income families.
The same is true with a restrictive regulation on business. In this instance, the providers are the companies, stores, and small businesses, while the good are the jobs they supply. Legislation that is anti-business is blatantly anti-worker and anti-jobs, and should be seen as a move that hurts the people as well.
It’s odd that a policy position that offers more jobs, better job security, higher pay, and higher government revenues divides Democrats and Republicans from the local level up through the Presidency. These benefits support groups that fall on both sides, including low-income families, middle-class families, communities, minority groups, children, schools, churches, and more.
In a better informed government, lawmakers would work across the aisle to support legislation that actually promotes job growth, supports businesses, and strengthens the economy, in an effort to work for the people, instead of duping them.
If our elected officials could agree on better fiscal policy, both sides would have the capability to help their respective communities, and the public would finally win in this political game, not to mention that more money would naturally go into the budget to support programs for education, health care, infrastructure, housing, and more.
So why is it so divisive? The answer is the same thing that causes most strife in governance: politics.
What is truly best for the people can make for bad headlines in the short-term and impact re-election or donor support.
“New Policy Erases Student Loan Debt for Millions Nationwide” is a far better headline for student loan forgiveness than what the headline for the true, long-term outcome would be: “Erasing Students Loans Cripples Economy as Trillions of Dollars go Unpaid.”
The next time you hear a lawmaker denounce a pro-business policy for being anti-worker or for putting business over the people, consider how a business can support its workers when their operations take a hit, and why both sides can’t align on this issue.
