Fox News
Expand
Browse All Video
Watch Live

You're watching...

Chamber of Commerce CEO talks US business, debt

Details

  • Description

    Tom Donohue on state of business

  • Duration 6:36
  • Date

Clips

Also in this playlist...

Editor's Picks

Auto-advance: ON

Auto-advance
View All

Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated

Fourteen the state of American business is slowly improving so says US chamber of commerce president Tom Donohue.

Who will talk about where we are during a major speech tomorrow he joins us with a preview this evening -- -- I'm pleased to be here thank you very much.

Let's start there.

The state of American business there are a lot of people who are concerned about where the country is -- used today business is heading into twenty -- Business is slowly improving.

We will have a little dip.

In the first a quarter and a half because of the new taxes and other factors that came out of the clip.

But this -- that fiscal cliff and in the long term that means the year will get up and it to two and a half percent growth.

Now this is very very important it's not big enough it's not gonna put a lot of people who work.

But when you look at what's happening in Europe where that's our largest export market.

And you look what's happening in China and other places the fact that we're doing that well.

Portends.

If we take care of our problems.

A much better a future for us than many of our trading partners.

What's the biggest concern do you think.

For business well the fundamental issue.

Is that we are going to have to deal with spending.

You don't blame anybody for the fact that we have 101000 people.

A day retiring.

And that people are now living to eighty years of age we don't want to cut anybody's.

Medicare Medicaid Social Security but we need to turn down.

The growth curve and if we don't do that we're going to build dead at eight trillion dollars a year.

And pretty soon that gets to the fact.

You're not gonna have to worry about what are we gonna do it the debt ceiling because others are gonna worry about it for.

Would you travel the country you talked to businesses all over this country and you talk to them about what they see coming out of Washington.

And this back and forth and were going to be backed up against another wall essentially with this debt ceiling debate that is coming.

What what do you hear well the first thing business is -- is that.

There is another clip here.

And that's the regulatory -- The massive new regulation and Obama camp the regulations that are -- -- come out of Dodd-Frank and only about 20/20 5% of them have been done already.

The -- unbelievable regulations that are coming out of the Environmental Protection Agency and all the things that are happening.

On -- labor and employment rules.

No reason to be surprised -- business is sitting on trillions of dollars.

They have to figure out what all of this is going to cost how many people they know hire many full time people -- -- how many jobs and then put someplace else.

This is an unbelievable.

Burden now then add taxes and deficits and debt.

And business people are wondering what's going to come next we if we pay some attention to those issues.

If we have some positive fix on those issues you could watch an explosion of economic growth in this country we haven't seen a long time if we don't.

It may go the other way.

What about your relationship with this White House the chambers relationship.

With this way yes you know this town operates on politics this election is now over and you're going to deliver the state of the business tomorrow.

What what do you think going forward.

The job of the head of the chamber of congress United States.

Is to represent the American business community millions and millions of small businesses medium size businesses.

And large businesses I tell people that's won the -- -- jobs in America.

It's not my job to agree with the president what we were founded a hundred years -- go for two reasons.

To represent the business community and help our government and for years we've done when this administration came to office.

We help them get the stimulus bill my members didn't like that too well we help them on the banking issue we help them with the automobile companies.

And we want to help them a lot of things we need an immigration bill we're ready to go do that.

We need to.

Figure out a way to deal with our debt and deficit and by the way we've made a major suggestion you can't do this just in cost cutting and tax increases.

We need a third bucket which is energy.

We are the most prolific -- country in the world that we can do these things together but.

My -- relation there.

Sure it has its good days and bad days but we work with the all the cabinet agencies we work with people in the White House and we even talked the president wants -- well.

The -- when you see.

Speaker Boehner.

Quoted saying.

About his negotiations with the present in this fiscal cliff and he says at one point several weeks ago the president said to me we don't have a spending problem.

And Boehner says that Mr.

President we have a very serious spending problem he repeated this message so often.

He said the towards the end of the negotiation the president became irritated and said the Boehner I'm getting tired of hearing you say that when you hear those quotes.

What what he's done.

-- I'm going to be very straight about this anybody in a responsible position.

That doesn't understand.

That we have a spending problem driven.

By massive increases in entitlement clause which nobody votes on.

When you put them all together Social Security.

Medicare and other issues and the debt.

It consumes more than 60% of our national revenue and if we don't deal with Medicare in particular.

1215.

A few more years will eat the whole.

Revenue of the national government everybody knows we have a spending problem if you don't if you say we don't -- because you're trying to avoid it or you think that.

Economic growth is gonna get -- they -- just look seventeen months ago we increase the debt.

To get two point one trillion dollars it's all gone.

Now.

That could be a budgeting problem in -- fiscal problem but it's also a debt problem.

And at that rate will spend.

Will have a dead.

Of at least another trillion dollars a year and that's.

45 trillion dollars over the next administration if we pass this thing that's real money.

Tom thank you very much good -- -- speech tomorrow thanks very much appreciate the opportunity to mine.

Load More