Each year, the U.S. Chamber invites 100 chamber executives to be part of the Committee of 100. This group meets with the senior staff of the U.S. Chamber including Tom Donahue in the spring and the fall. I was invited to be part of the COC100 this year and just got back from the fall meeting. The next few blog posts will be a snapshot of the discussion topics.
On the economic discussion, I am just going to highlight a few things because Marty Regalia, Chief Economist for the U.S. Chamber will be in Bismarck-Mandan on Thursday, October 28 for a luncheon speech as part of our national hot topic roundtable. (Tickets available through the Chamber.)
It appears we are out of the recession by definition. However, business and consumers are being cautious about the future. To date, business has almost $2 trillion in cash on the sidelines, banks are sitting on $1.4 trillion and consumers are not spending.
The cause of the concern you ask? Businesses are asking…what is the cost of healthcare reform? What will happen with the tax cut extension? Will the EPA continue down the path of regulating carbon via the clean air act? Will EPA try to regulate oil and gas production via the clean water act? What is the true impact of the financial reform law? (You get the picture.) Until spending resumes, we will be hard pressed to get the growth rate up from around 2% to the 4% that is required to generate jobs and get America back to work. More to come on October 28.
