Goal for 2011 a 4-letter word

With Idaho's newest congressman recently sworn in and the Idaho Legislature starting work tomorrow, we wish to share with them and those at all other levels of government the most powerful four-letter word of 2011.

May it be their lighthouse, their rallying cry, their bottom line throughout the year.

That's not just our opinion, either. In the most recent cdapress.com poll, voters were asked, "Which of the following three issues is most urgent for Idaho and the nation to address?"

Of the 752 readers who voted, more than seven out of 10 chose "jobs." The other two options - taxes and education - essentially split the remaining votes.

Jobs it is.

Most experts predict an improved jobs picture by the end of the year, though their optimism is somewhat blunted. Because so many frustrated former job seekers simply went back to school or perhaps moved in with relatives when their unemployment benefits ran out, the number of people seeking jobs in an improving economy is likely to increase. That means the percentage of jobless workers might not plummet as rapidly as everyone would like.

With no major state or national elections to worry about this year, no posturing or positioning required, the time is ripe for real action.

Keep your eye on the ball: Focus on Job One, which is jobs.

When building budgets, crafting new legislation or refining old, determine what impact they'll have on sustaining and creating private-sector jobs. Before a decision is rendered, this exercise must be completed: Ask yourself, "If this measure is passed, what impact will it have on jobs?"

Don't give away taxpayers' hard-earned money; rather, support an environment that gives businesses incentives to add jobs. Operating government as frugally as possible at all levels is one of the greatest incentives to the private sector addition of jobs. When businesses pay excessive taxes to support burgeoning government - see Paul Plummer's superb My Turn column published Friday in The Press - job contraction is more likely than job creation. That's the opposite direction our cities, county, state and nation need to head.

We might never again experience the golden age of a few years ago, when the workforce was essentially fully engaged and employees could look forward to consistent, healthy pay raises. But there's no better time than right now to focus on getting back on the right track. The more jobs, the merrier the people.