U.S. Chamber and AEI Highlight Role of Private Sector in Creating Jobs, Reviving Economy

As Campaign for Free Enterprise Events Continue Nationwide, Top Economists Outline Steps to Job Creation

WASHINGTON, D.C.—One month after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched the American Free Enterprise. Dream Big. campaign, the National Chamber Foundation (NCF) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) today hosted a roundtable discussion of the country's top thought leaders to underscore the challenge of creating 20 million jobs over the next decade. The campaign will continue through California, Alabama, and Missouri this week, highlighting the specific number of jobs that must be created in each state.

"With one in ten Americans looking for a job, it's clear that now more than ever it's going to take an entrepreneurial spirit to put this country back to work," said Dr. Martin Regalia, chief economist at the U.S. Chamber. "While government efforts to stimulate the economy are useful in the short term, it's the free enterprise system that will grow our economy and create jobs over the long term. If America is to maintain its leading position in the global economy, then it must hold true to the free market values that have spurred unparalleled creativity and innovation for centuries."

Regalia joined a panel of economic experts to debate the effects of government expansion on job creation and explored the implications of a growing government on the investment climate, interest rates, and entrepreneurial start-ups. The panel also discussed the benefits of the American free enterprise system and its role in solving the nation's job challenge.

"In 20 years, we will remember 2009 for the struggle between the culture of redistribution among governing elites versus the culture of free enterprise embraced by the majority of American citizens," said AEI President Arthur Brooks. "Free markets, limited government, and entrepreneurship are—and always have been—the most powerful economic tools for creating American jobs."

Recently, the Chamber embarked on the American Free Enterprise. Dream Big. campaign to highlight the benefits of free enterprise and to encourage Americans and our leaders to foster a climate of innovation and entrepreneurship. The campaign reminds all Americans that individual initiative, hard work, freedom of choice, and the free exchange of trade, capital, and ideas built our great nation and it is only free enterprise that will sustain us in the long-term.

Momentum for the campaign is growing nationwide as executives from the U.S. Chamber make stops in San Francisco, CA, Mobile, AL, and Kansas City, MO this week. At these events, Americans are continuing to pledge their support for a flourishing system that can create the 20 million jobs necessary to revive the economy and get America back on track.

American Free Enterprise. Dream Big. is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's comprehensive, multiyear campaign to support free enterprise through national advertising; grassroots advocacy; citizen, community, and youth engagement; and research and ideas leadership.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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