WSJ CEO COUNCIL: Small Business, Education Key To Job Growth
By Roger Cheng and Jon Kamp, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Efforts to spur job creation need to center on
getting more credit--and fast--to small and midsize businesses and on improving
the country's education system, according to a group of business leaders at the
annual Wall Street Journal CEO Council.
"Look through the job-creation lens for every policy," American Express Co. (
AXP) Chief Executive Kenneth Chenault said. "All of the policies should be
related to job creation."
The pointed suggestions--from a group of chief executives representing
companies with a total market cap of $1.9 trillion--reflected the fragile
condition of the American economy as well as uncertainty over the broad slate of
policies coming out of Washington D.C., site of the meeting.
The group also called for broad tax reform that encourages savings and
investment while discouraging consumption and accumulating debt.
The CEOs argued that the main impediment to a faster economic recovery was the
high level of unemployment. They called for ensuring that credit was available
to jump-start hiring, with an emphasis on smaller businesses.
At the conference, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) urged the chief executives to
think of ways to help small businesses, which he called "the engine of the
economy."
With an eye toward future generations of workers, the CEOs decided that
improving the quality of education was the second most important point.
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) Chief Executive John Chambers said that of all the
issues, education is the most important long-term concern for the country. AT&T
Inc. (T) Chief Executive Randall Stephenson, meanwhile, said the talent pool
coming out high schools is getting diluted.
"Parents need to recognize that their children are falling behind," he said.
Education should be an issue that brings together Democrats and Republicans at
a time when they can agree on little else, Chambers said.
Some proposals set forth by the CEOs, however, underscore the gap between
executives and lawmakers on how to solve some of the nation's largest problems.
The CEOs, for instance, called for diversifying U.S. energy supplies, with
more access to coal and offshore oil and natural gas production, while vastly
increasing nuclear-power generation and embracing all sources of renewable
energy.
"We need it all," said Lynn Elsenhans, chief executive of Sunoco Inc (SUN). "
We have a lot of demand out there. To keep [energy] secure and affordable, we
need to develop it all."
Increased domestic energy production, however, has faced push-back from the
federal government as the Democrat-controlled Congress resists more offshore oil
and natural gas drilling, while coal mines in the Eastern U.S. face greater
environmental scrutiny.
CEOs also highlighted reforming medical-malpractice rules, which critics have
long said inflate health-care costs by pushing doctors to play defense and over-
treat patients.
While President Barack Obama has touched on the idea of reforming such rules,
the executives' proposal indicates they want something more aggressive because
they seek a limit to awards. The President has said from the outset that capping
plaintiffs' damages "is not a strategy that he would embrace" because it
punishes injured patients, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen
Sebelius said at the conference.
The executives' malpractice-reform proposal also includes a cap on legal fees
and the creation of "health courts."
-By Roger Cheng and Jon Kamp, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2153; roger.cheng@
dowjones.com
(Mark Peters and Paul Ziobro contributed to this report.)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-17-091943ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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