UNH students are worried about jobs after graduation

Former Mayor Frank Guinta told a group of students at the University of New Hampshire in Durham on Thursday that everyone in the country, regardless of age, is focused on the economy and jobs as their main concerns.

“People want to see this country in a better position economically right now; one that’s better for all of us,” said Guinta, who’s running for Congress in New Hampshire’s first district. “I don’t care if you’re 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60, that is one thing that unites all of us.”



The candidate sat with a group of students who were most concerned about whether they’d be able to find a job when they graduate. He noted that there is a real possibility that the younger generation of Americans may grow up worse off than their parents for the first time in American history, unless a new group of Congressmen can put an end to the radical agenda of the Obama Administration and the current Congress.

“The president has had a year with a Democratic Congress, and nothing has been done to improve anyone’s lives,” he said. “So far, we’ve had a government that has said, ‘Nope, even though [we’re losing jobs and the economy is faltering], we’re going to focus on changing the whole health care system’.”

UNH students, and particularly the senior class, face a difficult climate as they prepare to head into the job market, Guinta said. Businesses aren’t hiring because taxes are too high at the state and federal levels, and they’re mounting; health insurance costs keep growing, and would continue to swell under a government-run system; and the cost of doing business with credit cards is spiking, he said.

At the state level, the LLC tax and other regulations are driving businesses and insurance companies out of the state. At the federal level, the government is aiming to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, which will further burden businesses and prevent them from creating jobs.



The election of a new Congress in 2010 would bring an immediate change of focus, however. Most importantly, a new Congress would be elevated with the understanding that government does not create jobs or wealth. Only businesses can create jobs and the money to pay for them.

Yet, government can implement policies to foster a stronger economy. First off, government should reduce health care costs for businesses by allowing small companies to pool employees together for policy discounts and it should remove barriers to competition among insurance companies nationwide. Businesses would take the savings and immediately invest it in their companies. Second, governments at the state and federal level must simplify and eliminate taxes.

Finally, government could streamline the services it offers, restricting them to the Constitution, and provide regulatory relief where people need it the most.