Top 105 Quotes & Sayings by Elaine Chao - Page 2

Government at all levels has kicked the fiscal can down the road for far too long.

Employers should overcome a myopic quarterly earnings posture and focus on long-term strategies for growth that include investing in their own skills-training efforts to enable a broader pool of applicants.

America needs a new approach to boost the economy - one that does not doom future generations to being saddled with paying off today's federal deficits.

To maintain their own competitiveness, workers need to attain and stay current on the qualifications needed to advance in a constantly evolving economy.

Consider trade protectionism. It's been tried - and found wanting - since the Great Depression.

Americans did not suffer alone. World trade overall fell two-thirds in the first few years of the Depression.

For significant job creation to occur, prospective entrepreneurs and current business owners must not fear the future or be under assault from their own government in the present.

There should be an immediate moratorium on federal regulations that endanger jobs.

The Democratic Party's governing elite has long believed there is no problem that European-style policies cannot cure.

We need long-term tax reform that promotes private sector job creation. And legislated mandates that kill jobs by raising the cost of payrolls need to be eliminated.

Left-wing shareholder activists seek to leverage the mass economic power of institutional investors such as pension funds, whose managers are supposed to focus strictly on their fiduciary responsibilities to retirees.

Activist shareholder resolutions do not have to pass to succeed. The process itself can be so injurious to a company that management will cave to demands.

America's competitive advantage lies in its human talent. All of us should be doing everything we can to cultivate and develop our work force.

Rising energy costs kill jobs and hit America's poorest the hardest.

Taxpayers should demand that their states honestly assess public pension plans, accurately measure the assets and liabilities, and take steps to provide fair benefits to public employees that limit taxpayers' liability.

As tough as it is for many college graduates to get their planned careers on track, it could be worse: They could be trying to find a job without a college degree.

America's private sector job creators need elected leaders to lead and get out of the way.

To better deal with shortages of qualified applicants now and in the future, government policy makers need to acknowledge that government job training programs could stand improvement.

President Obama has been admirably pro-trade in public remarks, but there has been no progress in moving any new free trade agreements to expand exports abroad and create jobs at home.

The expenses of complying with Washington's torrent of mandates and regulatory overreach are costing American workers jobs and income growth.

The Obama administration's zeal to not 'waste a good crisis,' as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it, has been stunning even for Washington insiders to behold.

Confidence, capital, and credit fuel entrepreneurship and economic expansion.

To foster entrepreneurship, expansion and job creation, more leaders at all levels of government have to demonstrate some understanding of what it takes to build and grow businesses in the private sector.

The borrow-spend-and-centralize agenda that has been so destructive to job creation elsewhere in America has been a gravy boat inside the Beltway.

Washington's parasitic approach to the private sector must change for there to be widespread, near-term and enduring prosperity and job creation.

Even a healthy economy and labor market would have struggled under the additional expenses enacted and proposed in 2009 and 2010 - from healthcare mandates and higher taxes, to carbon cap-and-trade and delay in extending the last decade's tax reforms.

Confidence, capital, and new markets fuel entrepreneurship and job-generating expansion of existing businesses.

Policymakers, elected and unelected, need to be ever-mindful that the U.S. economy does not exist in isolation.

Around the time President Lyndon B. Johnson was declaring a War on Poverty in the 1960s, federal, state and local governments began accelerating a veritable War on the Private Sector.

The greatest job creation is driven by entrepreneurs and young businesses, so they merit special attention.

The Obama administration likes to say that it is 'pro-worker.' But something is amiss when its labor priorities are forcing unionization and labor contracts on American workplaces, and denying union members information on how their dues money is spent.

Where public pensions are concerned, many jurisdictions are running out of road.

European-style interventions to which the Obama administration is inclined will not make America more competitive in the world-wide economy. Such policies will not increase growth, will not decrease unemployment, and will not increase wages for workers.

When the Smoot-Hawley bill landed on President Herbert Hoover's desk, more than 1,000 economists urged him to veto it. Tragically, the president ignored their pleas.

Capital available for individuals to start and expand businesses would increase with regulatory and strategic tax reforms, like reducing marginal rates, repealing the alternative minimum tax, and making the U.S. the most welcoming place for employers to relocate and create jobs.

Most private sector workers can only dream of getting the generous lifetime pension and health benefits typical of government service.

We feel a pathway to citizenship would reward illegal activity, ... Amnesty encourages further illegal immigration.

We do not support an automatic pathway to citizenship.

It will level the playing field, ... It will give American workers choice, confidence and also control.

The attacks on Sept. 11 really sent a shock wave through our economy, and the full reverberation of that is not yet known.

Many Enron employees lost 70 percent to 90 percent of their retirement assets after the company indicated that it would re-state profit reports.

Given the rest of the economic news, including the fact that GDP growth is positive, inflation is still low, jobless claims are still moving downward and temporary services are firming up, that means the recovery continues, and we hope it will continue in a more robust fashion.

Those who come forward will not be offered an automatic pass to citizenship and should be expected to pay a substantial fine or penalty to participate in the temporary program.

The pursuit of excellence is a continuous process through life. Enjoy the pursuit.

Our intention is to clarify and modernize overtime pay rules.