CEOs of large, high profile companies like Intel tend to be averse to making strong political stands, especially during election season. They understand that their companies can quickly become targets for regulation that can end up costing shareholders millions (or billions of dollars). Most CEOs tend to throw some money at candidates who are expected to win and keep their heads down. Which is why Intel CEO Paul Otellini’s total evisceration of Obama’s understanding of the economy in the middle of an election season was such a shocking breath of fresh air today.
“The decisions so far have not resulted in either job growth or increased confidence. When what you’re doing isn’t working you rethink it and I think we need to rethink some plans,” he said at the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco.
Otellini credited the White House for listening to him and other business leaders. “I really think they’re trying,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think there is anti-business sentiment from the administration.
But Otellini said the $787 billion economic stimulus package passed last year has not done enough to solve problems in the job market. He argued that money not yet spent from that program might be better off allocated elsewhere and took the administration to task for focusing on short-term projects.
“It doesn’t seem to be working the way it is. Swimming pools in Mississippi are not going to create lasting jobs.”
** snip **
Otellini is also one of the first Fortune 500 CEOs to speak publicly about President Obama’s newly proposed $350 billion economic recovery plan. He said that proposal, which includes tax breaks for businesses and research and development incentives, is not the right plan either.
The way Otellini sees it, Washington must decide what the industries of the future are. “We still subsidize trains and agriculture — industries of the 19th century. We should decide what’s important to us going forward and make sure we’ve got the education system in place and the capital incentive system in place to do the investment here.”
Otellini also said that a major problem for companies is that they are being held back by high corporate tax rates.
Otellini says it costs Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) $1 billion more to build a factory in the U.S. than abroad because of a lack of U.S. tax incentives. The company has a multi-billion dollar factory slated to open in China this October.
“You have to weigh the advantages of working here, the security of working here in this country…against that billion dollars.”
Otellini questioned why global business leaders would want to do business in the U.S. due to the cost, saying it is critical to incentivize foreign countries to invest in America. “Our corporate taxes are twice what they are in the rest of the world. You want corporations to invest here.”
Gee. It seems that one party was talking about the corporate tax rate being too high all the way through the 2008 election. The other was busy talking about penalizing ExxonMobil for making too much profit. The end result is that when the financial sector tanked, the party in power did nothing to change the corporate tax rate and instead spent billions of dollars on “shovel ready” projects; i.e., completely unnecessary construction projects. These provided some level of short-term boon to construction companies, who built the projects in question and then were promptly left standing around twiddling their thumbs again. Meanwhile, companies with sustainable business practices and profitability like Intel move more and more American jobs overseas because of the hostile business climate that Barack Obama and his cronies don’t even understand, much less know how to fix.
Until America elects an administration and a Congress that has a better plan for fixing the economy than confiscating money from profit (read: job) producers like Intel and throwing it at farm subsidies and construction make-work, you can count on Austan Gooslbee being right: double-digit employment will be a more-or-less permanent feature.
Why did I vote for President Obama? I trusted him, and I still do. Why do so many Americans want Elizabeth Warren in a position of power and financial decision-making? Because they trust her to tell them the truth and do right by them. Why is the Banker to the Poor, Muhammad Yunus (who earns around 400 euros per month) trusted by millions around the world, yet the CEOs, CFOs and Presidents of major financial institutions are not only not trusted, they are despised? It all comes down to trust. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. And I don't want to be fooled again. Neither do 300 million Americans. Neither does much of the rest of the world.
In other words, we are over these guys in suits with their private jets and trophy wives. We are over the tennis buddy behind the scenes deal making insider information trading buying our politicians and leaving us with the bill and our president with a mess to clean up...it stops now.
Ironically, the very word for "credit" credire...means to believe in or trust. Trust is behind the entire concept of banking. What do the poorest of the poor in Muhammad Yunus Microcredit world and the wealthiest financial institutions have in common? Access to credit with no collateral to back up the loans. Yet the poorest of the poor in the Grameen Bank world pay back at rates as high as 99%. Those big banks not only did not pay back, they took from us and paid themselves bonuses. Hmmm...guess they aren't very good bankers are they? Because they have destroyed the very trust they need to get us to give them our money, invest it and give us something back. It feels like they are, well, stealing our money doesn't it?
Perhaps the reason there is still trust in Dr Yunus' world is because 98% of the poorest of the poor Grameen borrowers who are trying to make better lives for themselves and their children are women? Yunus noticed that women paid back better than the men, and used the money and profits from their small businesses to help their families so he focused on loaning to them. It is looking like most of the mess in the Western financial world is being caused by a handful of men, men with inflated egos, Narcissists so removed from how most people live their lives that one begins to feel that they actually believe they are somehow not entirely human.
But the fact is, they are human, just like all of the rest of us. And we simply do not trust them anymore, and most likely never will again. So let's get the investors and board members and depositors to change things, shake it up, remove these guys and put some women in charge, and those in whom we actually have trust again.
Then and only then will America have a banking system worth believing in, and until then, well, it's pretty much Us against Them. And I have a pretty strong feeling They are going to Lose. Because there are more of us, and we actually are rediscovering our power both politically and economically. Move your money. Call your representatives. Educate your children about the political process. Rebuild your communities and help those in need. There are so many people not finding work after losing their jobs. There is so much good will and energy among young people who want to remain optimistic about their future. America will be whole again and it will be even better now that we have woken up from this fantasy.
Turn off the TV. Dust off your bicycle. Have a block party and get to know your neighbors. Grow a garden. Learn to cook really healthy meals. Spend time with your partner and children. Read! It is time to slow down and rethink things. Use this time wisely. Become informed about the world. You are more powerful than you know. You can make a decision and act on it. Once you shift your perspective and take action, everything begins to shift. If we all do it together, a wave of good will and rebuilding will take root. It already is.
P.S. -- After taking a real vacation this summer, turning off the cell phone and disconnecting from email, I realized how very important it is to make time for doing nothing in order to come back re-energized and with new ideas. Check out some of them here.
And at Vigilante-vnm.com and on Twitter
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CEOs of large, high profile companies like Intel tend to be averse to making strong political stands, especially during election season. They understand that their companies can quickly become targets for regulation that can end up costing shareholders millions (or billions of dollars). Most CEOs tend to throw some money at candidates who are expected to win and keep their heads down. Which is why Intel CEO Paul Otellini’s total evisceration of Obama’s understanding of the economy in the middle of an election season was such a shocking breath of fresh air today.
“The decisions so far have not resulted in either job growth or increased confidence. When what you’re doing isn’t working you rethink it and I think we need to rethink some plans,” he said at the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco.
Otellini credited the White House for listening to him and other business leaders. “I really think they’re trying,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think there is anti-business sentiment from the administration.
But Otellini said the $787 billion economic stimulus package passed last year has not done enough to solve problems in the job market. He argued that money not yet spent from that program might be better off allocated elsewhere and took the administration to task for focusing on short-term projects.
“It doesn’t seem to be working the way it is. Swimming pools in Mississippi are not going to create lasting jobs.”
** snip **
Otellini is also one of the first Fortune 500 CEOs to speak publicly about President Obama’s newly proposed $350 billion economic recovery plan. He said that proposal, which includes tax breaks for businesses and research and development incentives, is not the right plan either.
The way Otellini sees it, Washington must decide what the industries of the future are. “We still subsidize trains and agriculture — industries of the 19th century. We should decide what’s important to us going forward and make sure we’ve got the education system in place and the capital incentive system in place to do the investment here.”
Otellini also said that a major problem for companies is that they are being held back by high corporate tax rates.
Otellini says it costs Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) $1 billion more to build a factory in the U.S. than abroad because of a lack of U.S. tax incentives. The company has a multi-billion dollar factory slated to open in China this October.
“You have to weigh the advantages of working here, the security of working here in this country…against that billion dollars.”
Otellini questioned why global business leaders would want to do business in the U.S. due to the cost, saying it is critical to incentivize foreign countries to invest in America. “Our corporate taxes are twice what they are in the rest of the world. You want corporations to invest here.”
Gee. It seems that one party was talking about the corporate tax rate being too high all the way through the 2008 election. The other was busy talking about penalizing ExxonMobil for making too much profit. The end result is that when the financial sector tanked, the party in power did nothing to change the corporate tax rate and instead spent billions of dollars on “shovel ready” projects; i.e., completely unnecessary construction projects. These provided some level of short-term boon to construction companies, who built the projects in question and then were promptly left standing around twiddling their thumbs again. Meanwhile, companies with sustainable business practices and profitability like Intel move more and more American jobs overseas because of the hostile business climate that Barack Obama and his cronies don’t even understand, much less know how to fix.
Until America elects an administration and a Congress that has a better plan for fixing the economy than confiscating money from profit (read: job) producers like Intel and throwing it at farm subsidies and construction make-work, you can count on Austan Gooslbee being right: double-digit employment will be a more-or-less permanent feature.
Why did I vote for President Obama? I trusted him, and I still do. Why do so many Americans want Elizabeth Warren in a position of power and financial decision-making? Because they trust her to tell them the truth and do right by them. Why is the Banker to the Poor, Muhammad Yunus (who earns around 400 euros per month) trusted by millions around the world, yet the CEOs, CFOs and Presidents of major financial institutions are not only not trusted, they are despised? It all comes down to trust. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. And I don't want to be fooled again. Neither do 300 million Americans. Neither does much of the rest of the world.
In other words, we are over these guys in suits with their private jets and trophy wives. We are over the tennis buddy behind the scenes deal making insider information trading buying our politicians and leaving us with the bill and our president with a mess to clean up...it stops now.
Ironically, the very word for "credit" credire...means to believe in or trust. Trust is behind the entire concept of banking. What do the poorest of the poor in Muhammad Yunus Microcredit world and the wealthiest financial institutions have in common? Access to credit with no collateral to back up the loans. Yet the poorest of the poor in the Grameen Bank world pay back at rates as high as 99%. Those big banks not only did not pay back, they took from us and paid themselves bonuses. Hmmm...guess they aren't very good bankers are they? Because they have destroyed the very trust they need to get us to give them our money, invest it and give us something back. It feels like they are, well, stealing our money doesn't it?
Perhaps the reason there is still trust in Dr Yunus' world is because 98% of the poorest of the poor Grameen borrowers who are trying to make better lives for themselves and their children are women? Yunus noticed that women paid back better than the men, and used the money and profits from their small businesses to help their families so he focused on loaning to them. It is looking like most of the mess in the Western financial world is being caused by a handful of men, men with inflated egos, Narcissists so removed from how most people live their lives that one begins to feel that they actually believe they are somehow not entirely human.
But the fact is, they are human, just like all of the rest of us. And we simply do not trust them anymore, and most likely never will again. So let's get the investors and board members and depositors to change things, shake it up, remove these guys and put some women in charge, and those in whom we actually have trust again.
Then and only then will America have a banking system worth believing in, and until then, well, it's pretty much Us against Them. And I have a pretty strong feeling They are going to Lose. Because there are more of us, and we actually are rediscovering our power both politically and economically. Move your money. Call your representatives. Educate your children about the political process. Rebuild your communities and help those in need. There are so many people not finding work after losing their jobs. There is so much good will and energy among young people who want to remain optimistic about their future. America will be whole again and it will be even better now that we have woken up from this fantasy.
Turn off the TV. Dust off your bicycle. Have a block party and get to know your neighbors. Grow a garden. Learn to cook really healthy meals. Spend time with your partner and children. Read! It is time to slow down and rethink things. Use this time wisely. Become informed about the world. You are more powerful than you know. You can make a decision and act on it. Once you shift your perspective and take action, everything begins to shift. If we all do it together, a wave of good will and rebuilding will take root. It already is.
P.S. -- After taking a real vacation this summer, turning off the cell phone and disconnecting from email, I realized how very important it is to make time for doing nothing in order to come back re-energized and with new ideas. Check out some of them here.
And at Vigilante-vnm.com and on Twitter
robert shumake
Olympus develops compact camera with Zuiko lens: Digital <b>...</b>
Olympus develops compact camera with Zuiko lens: Olympus has announced it is developing an enthusiasts' compact camera that, for the first time, will have a Zuiko-branded lens. In addition to using the Zuiko name, long used to denote ...
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Eric Boehlert: Fox <b>News</b> Has a Christine O'Donnell Problem
Why? Because now Fox News has to explain to viewers why O'Donnell is ready to serve in the US Senate even though she's not ready to appear on Fox News Sunday. Awkward.
robert shumake
Olympus develops compact camera with Zuiko lens: Digital <b>...</b>
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Newsy: The Story Behind its Innovative <b>News</b> App
Today we're starting a new interview series on ReadWriteWeb, focused on product innovation on the Web. I'll be interviewing a number of startup founders over the coming weeks, ...
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Why? Because now Fox News has to explain to viewers why O'Donnell is ready to serve in the US Senate even though she's not ready to appear on Fox News Sunday. Awkward.
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