Public Policy Expert Anthony Figliola, Announces Economic Development Ideas to Create Jobs in America

Anthony Figliola

New York, NY (PRWEB) December 14, 2011

The United States is currently running a deficit of over $ 14 Trillion with a quarter of Americans living at or below the poverty line. Unemployment has remained over 9 percent for over 24 consecutive months and both the White House and Congress failed to pass mandatory budget cuts through the Super Committee to save our economy.

“People are in bad shape and something needs to be done to rebuild our nation, but not at the expense of the taxpayers,” said Anthony Figliola, economic development professional and Vice President of Empire Government Strategies. “The good news is that there are many initiatives Washington can enact, which can put Americans back to work without raising taxes.”

Anthony Figliola is the former Deputy Supervisor of Economic Development for the Town of Brookhaven, one of America’s largest municipalities. During his time in government he was directly responsible economic and energy policy. He worked with businesses seeking government incentives to grow as well as developed workforce development programs to put people back to work.

He continued his work in economic development in the private sector and in total has helped to create over 3,500 new jobs. In addition he obtained over $ 800 million in government grants for businesses, which invested over $ 2 billion in capital projects.

Utilizing his past experience in job creation and economic development, Mr. Figliola outlined several steps the federal government should take to stimulate job growth in America.

Support Oil and Natural Gas Exploration: currently there are trillions of cubic feet of oil and natural gas shales under our feet. The EPA and states including New York need to approve continued exploration, so that our country can significantly reduce its dependence on foreign oil and create tens of thousands of jobs for Americans. For example, the Obama Administration has an opportunity to approve the expansion of the Keystone XL Pipeline down to the Gulf of Mexico. This project has the potential to create over 20,000 jobs at no cost to the taxpayers, however, the project has been stalled.

Repatriate U.S. Cash from Overseas: right now there is over $ 2 trillion in profits made by U.S. corporations sitting in overseas accounts. The Congress should pass legislation to allow those corporations to bring that money back home at a one-time discounted tax rate. The caveat would be that 3% of taxable earnings would be put into an Economic Development fund designed to help small businesses looking for capital to grow.

Create a Federal Economic Development Fund: This fund would be managed by a non-profit entity oversaw by the Department of Commerce and the Congress. This fund would solicit competitive applications for funding from all 50 states. Each state currently has programs that provide financial support to growing businesses and workforce training projects. The mechanism and oversight has already been established by the states. They have access to businesses ready to expand, but funds are limited. A competitive grant program similar to the Race to the Top initiative would immediately create badly needed jobs for struggling state economies.

Anthony Figliola has been published and regularly interviewed for his expertise in economic development and public policy for media outlets such as: NBC News, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Newsday, Finance & Commerce, Long Island Business News, New York Metro, BusinessWeek and many more.

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