Free Markets and Entrepreneurship - We Believe
U.S. Chamber president and CEO Tom Donohue and executive vice president for Government Affairs Bruce Josten sat down with the National Journal to give their take on the battles over legislation and policy expected in 2009. Here is a taste:
NJ: There seem to be a number of areas where you can collaborate with the Obama administration. Does this represent a shift in chamber philosophy, or is it a response to the economic crisis that we're in, or both?
Donohue: The current economic crisis is unlike anything that any of us have seen in a lifetime. We know that historically there have been similar and significant economic challenges, but this [downturn] is pretty significant because it is global. It is a time for all of us to be concerned about putting people back to work, stabilizing the financial institutions that are global in nature, not only local, and having a sensible kind of rescue package. We have not found the bottom of this problem yet.
We believe we have a responsibility as the representative of the American business community to participate in this, not in a perfunctory way, but in a serious way. We will, at the same time, vigorously oppose putting on top of a stimulus package or right next to it some of the issues that we believe will make it all the more difficult to return America's economy to a position of health. And that is, to do a card-check thing right now on top of the stimulus package has got to be about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You might just as well not do the stimulus.The chamber has not changed its philosophy. We believe in free markets. We believe in entrepreneurship. We believe in the competitive capital market. We believe in global trading systems, which, by the way, make up a huge part of our economy. But we are not going to sit around on the sideline while others move forward to try and deal with these crises.
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