"...the federal government has cynically told us that high taxes on business will in some way 'solve' the problem and allow the average taxpayer to pay less. Well, business is not a taxpayer, it is a tax collector. Business has to pass its tax burden on to the customer as part of the cost of doing business. You and I pay the taxes imposed on business every time we go to the store. Only people pay taxes and it is political demagoguery or economic illiteracy to try and tell us otherwise."

An important point from a campaign speech. No, not Mitt Romney from last week, Ronald Reagan from 1979 (h/t @Jim Pethokoukis). Sadly, 30+ years later we are seeing this same confusion over taxing businesses. In the interest of economic literacy, let's see what the Tax Policy Center says about who bear... more »

Like the kid at school with his hand in the air, trying to get the teacher's attention, America's energy companies are trying to catch the administration's eye as it casts about for job-creation ideas. The correct answer is right here in the first row: energy.

Last week President Obama said job creation isn't that complicated:

"There are no challenges that we're facing that we don't have the solutions to. We know what to do. ... It's not rocket science. And it doesn't require us to decimate the things that we know are going to help us grow and become competitive."

The president's right. It's not rocket science, though at times the administration makes it seem like something akin to alchemy - proposing indirect measures like tax credits, grants and patent reform - when simpler, faster and m... more »

It's good the administration seems to be refocusing on job creation - what with the current economic malaise yielding another blah employment report, Standard & Poor's downgrading of the country's credit rating and the stock market diving through the 11,000 floor.

The president said Monday creating jobs "is not rocket science" and "we know what to do" - and he is right. The question is, will we do it? Even the usually supportive New York Times thinks that recent economic leadership has fizzled: "Anyone hungering for a robust vision to invigorate the economy and increase employment is still hungry."

So, yeah - amid the churn of disappointing economic news, the administration looks to pivot to jobs. First, though, it might look at the pivot of jobs - as thus defined:

"A person or thing that... more »

Ron Liepert, energy minister of Canada's energy-rich Alberta province, sounded almost wistful talking about his country's energy partnership with the United States - which Liepert unhesitatingly said is the key to economic prosperity for both countries.

The wistfulness enters in when Liepert concedes that safe, abundant oil from Alberta's oil sands region and the Keystone XL pipeline that would deliver it - providing a powerful stimulus to the struggling U.S. economy - face determined opposition in America. It makes no sense to him that the U.S. might shun oil from a trusted ally. "We are so intertwined," he said.

Liepert spent time with our group of energy reporters and bloggers in Fort McMurray, the hub of Alberta's oil sands region. He warned that oil sands oil will have little trouble... more »

Shell America's Marvin Odum and Alabama mine operator Ronnie Bryant would appear to have little in common. Odum oversees tens of thousands of employees, making decisions that are measurable in the billions of dollars. Bryant has permitting to open a new coal mine that would employ about 125 workers in Alabama.

No question, a galactic difference in scale. But there's at least one common point. Both run businesses that attract environmental attention.

Odum told a U.S. Chamber of Commerce audience last week that a recent lawsuit filed by environmental groups against the government, targeting the federal permitting process, could bring drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to a standstill:

"We are not named in the suit, but we have an interest in how it is resolved - as does every energy consumer in... more »