Thursday, March 12, 2009

Obama Speaks to Business Roundtable-Video

Obama at a business roundtable puts things in perspective for the business folk. Obama says it's his job to address every challenge. The most immediate threats: jobs, housing and credit. He says he's building prosperity that lasts, not fake prosperity. 
He reminds everyone that for the next two years, taxes won't go up for anyone. 
By the way, Obama gave three speeches today, including a how-to spend the stimulus for state officials, and the National Defense University's dedication of the Abraham Lincoln Hall.


Obama reassured business leaders:
WSJ: Speaking for more than an hour Thursday to the Business Roundtable, a chief executives organization, Mr. Obama made it clear he wants the business community's cooperation to secure his agenda of expanding the federal role in education, overhauling health care and transforming the energy sector.

Pressed on his proposal to rein in the indefinite deferral of corporate taxes on overseas earnings, Mr. Obama said he would be willing to consider lowering the 35% corporate tax rate as he closes other business-tax loopholes. "That's a very appealing conversation to me, and I'd like to pursue it," the president said.

When Weyerhaeuser Co. CEO Daniel S. Fulton questioned his climate-change proposal, Mr. Obama struck a pragmatic note. Mr. Fulton said the proposal to cap carbon emissions and force companies to purchase permits for 100% of future releases would stifle innovation on conservation for energy-intensive companies like his, already struggling with costs.

Mr. Obama said that past plans overseas that granted some emissions permits to companies were ineffective. "The flip side is, if it's so onerous that people can't meet it, then it defeats the purpose -- and politically we can't get it done anyway," he said, signaling a willingness to talk.

Some business leaders aren't so testy:
But the president's overtures to the titans of industry were on full display Thursday. Sixty-five CEOs from the Business Roundtable heard from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Budget Director Peter Orszag, and energy czar Carol Browner before the start of the president's first public question-and-answer session with the business community. Participants ranged from James Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to H. Edward Hanway of Cigna Corp.

"There's a misperception, I think, in some people's minds that the relationship between business and the Obama administration is like, well, oil and vinegar," said Harold McGraw III of McGraw-Hill Cos. "That couldn't be farther from the truth."

But Mr. Obama was pressed over his positions on taxes, trade and climate change -- areas where many business leaders oppose his policies. Richard Parsons, chairman of Citigroup Inc., implored the president to take on the role of "confidence-builder-in-chief," after days of criticism in the news media that Mr. Obama has been too negative about the economy.

"We are in a battle in this country now, maybe in the world, between confidence and fear," Mr. Parsons said. Read the whole story
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,