Making Lemonade

As we go to press, President Obama is promoting a $447 billion job creation package and his opponents are blasting it—in other words, business as usual in Washington, D.C.

While conservatives call the plan just another excuse for building a bigger government, economists believe that it will at least stimulate spending and reduce the unemployment rate. The bill even includes some perks for small businesses, including temporary tax credits and reduction or elimination of payroll taxes for businesses that hire new employees.

House Republicans have floated their own proposal, which centers on deficit reduction, a congressional review of government regulations impacting business and streamlining the tax code.

Elements of both plans seem to make sense—Obama's from a short-term perspective, the House's from a long-term examination of the issue. You would think that both sides could collaborate and get the economy moving. But alas, we're gearing up for an election year, and career politicians are too busy figuring ways to make the other guy look bad to actually accomplish anything. If this summer's debt ceiling debacle proved anything, it's that our elected officials put the ability to blame their opponents above everything else, including the health and welfare of the voters and the country.

And while our elected Neros fiddle, Rome is aflame. The U.S. Census Bureau recently stated that 46.2 million Americans lived below the official poverty line last year, the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been tracking poverty. Last year alone, 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the U.S. and median household incomes fell to levels last seen in 1997.

In light of all this roiling uncertainty, it's hard for independent agencies to survive, let alone think about the future. Yet that's exactly what the forward-thinking business people in our cover story on emerging markets are doing. From a California agency focusing on the emerging trend of food truck cuisine to a Massachusetts firm rediscovering its niche with regional small businesses, creative agents and brokers are taking the lemons the economy is handing them and making sweet lemonade. Instead of blaming competition from China, the Greek economic crisis, excessive government regulation or direct writers, they're partnering with clients, prospects and companies to find and fulfill the needs of existing businesses.

And make no mistake: Those businesses are out there, if you have the vision to spot them. PPIB, for example, has created a thriving business around tattoo studios—a niche that was shunned by traditional insurers. These businesses are succeeding by thinking outside the box—something our elected officials might take a lesson from.