PBS Newshour is one of my favorite place to get the news. Last night, Gwen Infil interviewed David Cote, of Honeywell and Greg Brown of Motorolla to see what came out of President Obama's 4 hour meeting with a group of business leaders.
Obama commented to the cameras on his way to the meeting that he was going to see what he could do about getting some of the trillion dollars business are holding off the sidelines and back into the economy. Gwen asked Honeywell's Cote why this money hasn't been invested when the economy so badly needs it, and he didn't say because of uncertainty in tax rates, he said the uncertainty in DEMAND has been holding back investment.
The creation of demand is exactly what the Republicans have been blocking. No more stimulus they say for the demand side of the equation, we need to stimulate the supply side (they are like a broken record). Well, Cote says, its nice to have the tax cuts extended but, "it is the worst kind of compromise to fix (the deficit) problem." He and Brown of Motorolla said the tax extensions will have to expire in the next few years if we are going to get a handle on the deficit.
More shocking news from this interview:
Obama's actions averted a depression, Cote said, and according to Brown, tensions between the business community and the White House have been way overblown. Gee who has been using that rhetoric, oh yeah, those mean, lying Republicans.
According to the businessmen, the economy has been much better in the last 18 months, with stocks, corporate earnings and cash on hand increasing. "The opportunities for us to grow and invest are right there, " said Brown.
So why haven't they invested? Like Cote said in the beginning, uncertainty of DEMAND. Obama's admin. has been steadily stimulating the demand side of the economy (somehow through the endless roadblocks of the Repubs), and extension of unemployment benefits will continue that work.
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