It’s Time to be Bold

Three years ago, as our economy faced the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, it made sense for companies to cut back, to restructure. It made sense for the public sector to cut costs and aggressively seek new ways to boost efficiency. And, of course, consumers needed to cut their credit balances and banks needed to pull back on lending as they built up their balance sheets.

Efficiency is always good. So is responsible spending. But enough already with the deep cuts in business and government spending. Unless we stop the endless belt tightening, job cutting and cash hoarding, we are going to trigger the very economic downturn that is preventing us from taking action.

As a region, we are lucky to have local companies like Paccar, Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing and F5 Networks that continue to invest and grow. But as University of Washington President Michael Young recently reminded us: Luck is not a strategy. Neither is hope.

Its time for all of us, as a community, to start investing again in our future. Here are a few things we can do to make sure we remain a vibrant business center:

Build critical infrastructure. The decision to build a tunnel to replace Seattles earthquake-vulnerable viaduct was important. Well have more jobs, easier access to the Port of Seattle and an open waterfront worthy of an international city. But to keep business humming, we need more investments across the state to build and maintain roads and to expand transit.

Educate workers. We need to move aggressively to train our residents in the skills that business needs. Boeing says half of its engineers will be eligible for retirement in five years. Other sectors like the maritime industry will also face heavy retirement. We must transform our educational institutions so that they can provide our studentsand unemployed workerswith the training they need to fill those jobs as well as the new jobs emerging from the technology sector.

Keep aerospace in Washington. We need to make sure Boeings 737 Max jetliner is manufactured in Washington. Aerospace is critical to our state and we must remain the world leader.

Simplify regulations. We must do more to simplify regulations that hamper our biggest source of jobsthe small-business sector, many of them family-owned firms (see page 34).

Ultimately, the health of any economy is dependent on business investment. Its time to stop worrying about crises in Europe and Washington, D.C., and to start thinking about business opportunities. The downside risks of another recession occurring are shrinking by the day. Now the biggest risk may be failing to act. Businesses must make the investments in people, technology and equipment required to tap opportunities here and overseas. And banks need to be more receptive to financing that investment. This, after all, is how capitalism is supposed to work.