White House set to make peace with business

[Better Believe It]

White House set to make peace with business
Administration wants to mend a key relationship that went sour
By Caren Bohan
Reuters
November 7, 2010


In a speech last summer, the Roundtable's chairman, Verizon chief executive Ivan Seidenberg, accused the administration and Democrats of creating a hostile environment for business. "By reaching into virtually every sector of economic life, government is injecting uncertainty into the marketplace and making it harder to raise capital and create new businesses," Seidenberg said.

While disagreeing with the criticism, the White House is willing to try to make nice. Reuters has learned that part of the administration's post-election playbook will be to reset relations with the business community.

Several ideas are under consideration. One is to hold a "summit" on jobs and the economy in either late December or early January, led by Obama and including leaders of both parties as well as top business leaders.

In the meantime, the president will also make a highly visible gesture toward corporate America when he sets off on a 10-day trip to Asia this week. On his first stop in Mumbai, he will address a U.S.-India business summit that will include a delegation of more than 200 U.S. chief executives — everyone from Boeing Co's Jim McNerney and Honeywell International Inc's David Cote to General Electric Co's Jeffrey Immelt.

His presence there could help the companies seal billions of dollars in deals. Part of the agenda is a meeting between Obama and the U.S. CEOs.

Read the full article at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39988585/ns/business-us_business

[MannyGoldstein]

1. We are so powerfully fucked that I don't know where to begin

A corporatist President turning Right in the middle of a depression.

Dear God!

[ananda]

3. He's always been a corporate president turning right.

nt

[Individualist]

8. True.

[Lorien]

24. Now he appears to be turning to the HARD right

wow; it's the perfect setup if he was with the opposition all along. 1). Campaign on a center Left "Hope and Change" platform, 2.) Allow the Right to characterize you as a far Left liberal Socialist, 3.) move to the Right; the Right won't believe that you're on their team and they'll push you to go even further Right, the Left will argue about whether you deserve a spot on Mount Rushmore or a Primary challenger (divide and conquer) 4.) Ignore the party base who have noticed your push to the hard pro-corporate Right. Allow the MSM to continue screaming "SOCIALIST!" as cover for your far Right, anti-Progressive policies. 5.) RW Reaganomic policies backfire. Dems get blamed. The off-the-cliff crazy Right Wingers take all in 2012. Mission accomplished!

Either that, or he's just painfully obtuse.

[The Northerner]

11. +1

[somone]

2. How about prosecuting a few of them

the ones on Wall Street, for example

[Xicano]

4. This short youtube clip sums it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avGl7k4OGJY

[somone]

5. Yep. Incredible.

[Xicano]

6. I wish we could bring back Huey Long and FDR.

And if they blogged, I'll bet anything they'd be DU'ers.. :)

[treestar]

7. You do realize that jobs come from business?

[Dragonfli]

12. Mostly overseas jobs from this crowd but good for the CEO class - his favorite constituency

I assume they just want more tax free status and de-regulation, maybe some more rewards for doing the manufacturing elsewhere, that is what they have been asking for lately you know. That kind of "help for business" is killing us, help the real American businesses not the mega multinationals that they refer to when they say "the business community".

They certainly aren't offering such gifts to the medium and smaller domestic companies that actually hire more than management at multi-million dollar salaries.

It sounds like an attempt to take the GOP's place in line for all that citizens united cheese being spread around, in fact it is rather obviously exactly that.

What happened to that guy that used to go around saying he would stop rewarding the outsourcing of jobs?
Oh that's right, he got the job HE wanted so he doesn't have to pretend as hard now that the interview is over.

[treestar]

17. Obama is not trying to outsource jobs

And has mentioned not rewarding it.

[Better Believe It]

20. And what legislation has been passed to stop that outsourcing?

If it doesn't happen now in the lameduck session of Congress it won't happen and all that talk about stopping outsourcing was just a lot of hot air.

[Dragonfli]

22. No, his pals are the ones doing that, and he mentioned a lot of things, but doesn't do much more

Sometimes even the opposite.

I am sorry if this is disillusioning, I once worshipped (I mean like at the time the guy was a real hero to me) a centrist that said the right things and then passed some god awful stuff like welfare deform NAFTA the dismantling of all the rules that kept wall street from stealing and crashing the economy, it will hurt when you figure it out, the first hurts the most and I do not envy what I know from experience you will feel when the effects of his multinational corporate appeasement becomes clear to you.

It doesn't hurt so much when you stop taking it personally, most of them just want the cash from the big donors and chase that with policy while saying they are on the people's side and chasing their votes with rhetoric custom designed for their ears, perhaps someday we will have another great person that cares for the majority of regular people, it could happen, it did with FDR and others, we just have to keep working to find those rare men/women.

Someday you will understand this post or you will change parties, until then I suppose we shall simply be in disagreement, hopefully friendly.

[stillwaiting]

27. He mentioned it!!

Obama's speeches are nothing if not pretty.

It's what he fights for or against (or what his selected Administration officials fight for or against) that leaves me quite unhappy.

[Crunchy Frog]

15. Yes, but right now it's Indian and Chinese jobs

that are coming from the really big businesses.

I don't think most DUers are against businesses as such, just want more accountability from them and for them to be held to certain standards.

[treestar]

16. Not every business here does that

There are many small businesses.

Or, just meeting with them may mean to get them to keep the jobs here.

[Crunchy Frog]

18. I was under the impression we were talking about the big businesses.

Small business is a completely different matter. They're getting just as screwed as everyone else. The Repuke message machine does a good job of equating the two.

[Better Believe It]

19. And they have proven to be especially talented at destroying millions of jobs

Outsourcing, moving profitable operations to even more profitable locations in cheap labor nations, productivity speed-ups, firing senior workers and replacing them with younger workers with lower pay and fewer benefits, pilling up 1.8 trillion in cash while cutting wages and benefits .... just to name a few things.

That's corporate America's MO.

[eridani]

26. Great. How do jobs in China help the unemployed?

And no, jobs don't come from business. They come from effective consumer DEMAND which business is able to capitalize on.

[leveymg]

9. Placeholder till tomorrow.

[laughingliberal]

10. *Sigh* K&R. eom

[Mojorabbit]

13. bookmarking to read in am. nt

[pa28]

14. I'm not sure what else he can do.

He's handed out tax ponies in the form of R&D and depreciation benefits, welcomed lobbyists with open arms and given large subsidies and outright bailouts to corporate finance.

Perhaps if he presented the keys to the treasury with more feeling big business would love him more.

All joking aside this is the key moment. The President needs to reconnect with his alienated base right now or he's going to very lonely in 2012. Corporate America will happily bonus themselves with Obama's larding at public expense and throw all their support to Mitt Romney without a second thought.

[Fgiriun]

21. Actually

He is the president. If he had the guts, or the conviction, he could issue an executive order placing various industries such as health care and oil under federal control. Of course this would most likely be invalidated by the Supreme Court but it would certainly send a message to the corporatists.

[Odin2005]

23. This is BULLSHIT, Mr, President!

:grr:

[jgraz]

25. K&R to read tomorrow. Too fucking depressing to read tonight.