Obama, Democrats are Damaging Business Confidence

[Toro]

Obama and the Democrats inherited the most difficult economic environment since the Depression. The economy would be bad no matter who was in power. But they are impeding the economic recovery. The Democrats are instilling a sense of no confidence in the business community. This is stalling business investment and thus job creation.

This is from the CEO of Emerson, David Farr, on the company's latest quarterly conference call.

“I just look at the order pace. I think the biggest issue that I'm watching right now is they're not really -- either in the US or Europe really addressing the gut issues. The US have enormous regulations coming at us right now.

“There's -- the incentive to invest in the United States is negative and from my perspective.

“People talk about ‘we want clarity’. I've got all the clarity I need. They're spending, they're regulating us, the tax rates, they're talking about raising the tax rate.

“Our tax rate this year will be around -- in the US will be around 36%. We'll pay in US taxes this year over $500 million, actually pay the US government over $500 million, and they say they want to raise it even more. And so I'm looking at that as a -- I run a Company, I have a lot of money to invest and I look at that and I say I'm not going to invest it here and I think customers -- I think a lot of customers have the same concern.

“And then when you have a company like Boeing, you're talking about one of the iconic US companies gets sued by the federal government. If that doesn't get your attention, nothing will. They get sued for investing $2 billion in South Carolina. Last time I saw South Carolina was a part of the United States of America and you get sued for that. I tell what you, the CEO, you get my attention.”

Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Up: The Most Important Call of the Year: “I’ve Got All The Clarity I Need”

 

[Ravi]

I have a hard time believing partisans.

Mr. Farr has aggressively moved Emerson production and design operations to low-cost, low-regulation environments outside the United States, particularly the People's Republic of China. Under Mr. Farr's leadership, Emerson laid off 14% of its U.S. workforce in 2009, eliminating nearly 20,000 jobs. While speaking at the Baird Industrial Outlook Conference in Chicago, in November 2009, Mr. Farr attacked the Obama administration for its attention to "labor rules" and "health reform", and stated: "What do you think I'm going to do? I'm not going to hire anyone in the United States. I'm moving."

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Emerson as the 97th largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, down from its previous rank of 56th. Major pollutants indicated by the study include nickel compounds, manganese, diisocyanate, and lead.[5]

Both of those paragraphs are from Wikipedia.

 

[Toro]

It's coming from other CEOs too.