Fitzpatrick talks job growth, economy with business owners

A small group of local business owners met with U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick Tuesday to talk about job growth, taxes and the nation’s debt.

Participants in the informal town hall, hosted by Doylestown Wealth Management, represented a variety of industries, from retail and construction to financial services and manufacturing.

But they all expressed concern about government spending and the direction of the economy.

“Most of my clients are scared for the first time ever,” said Robert Wisner, president of The Paragon Alliance Group LLC, a employee benefits consulting firm in Souderton. “We don’t have a clear direction as to how we’re going to get out of it.”

Fitzpatrick, R-8, said the federal government should get out of the way of private industry and concentrate on spending cuts and reducing the national debt.

“One of the most important things we can do is reduce the size of the federal government, reduce spending,” he said.

Doylestown Wealth Management invited Fitzpatrick to speak as part of its regular seminar series for clients, said owner Michael Mattie. During the financial firm’s last meeting in April, participants spoke in depth about a guest opinion Fitzpatrick wrote on job growth and spending cuts, which appeared April 11 in this newspaper.

“We all generally agreed the economy is still pretty frail,” Mattie said. “Stimulating jobs will help ease some of that pain.”