I was struck by the anti-insurance company rhetoric this week, especially by how vehement it was. This kind of tact (and attack) strikes me as causing three problems:

First, it impugns the hundreds of thousands of people who work in the industry every day to ensure their policyholders get access to good health care. Attacks on their work and business model raise the question of whether or not those attacking think that the needs of American health care consumers would be better served with a government-run health insurance system. I think we all agree that most Americans do not think so. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, Business Roundtable was honored to host President Obama at our first quarterly meeting of the year. He spoke to us on a range of topics, from health care to energy to taxes. Yet, I was struck in particular by this passage:

“[My administration is] investing in innovation that will lead to a more efficient, affordable and consumer-friendly federal government. Almost all of you have harnessed new technologies to build thriving businesses and provide better services to your customers. There’s no reason government shouldn’t do the same, and give taxpayers a better bang for their buck.” Read the rest of this entry »

When I was a younger—a lot younger—I was once an engineer at the General Electric Power Generation Business Group. Then, the promise of nuclear power was derailed—unfortunately—by the incident at 3 Mile Island. Since that time, our country has struggled to have more than slightly 20 percent of our power generated by what experts have always said was a clean and efficient power source. Read the rest of this entry »

As I sit and watch Washington attempt to deal with the largest snowfall(s) on record I am struck by the contrast between how Washington works on a personal level compared with how it works on a political level. In my D.C. neighborhood, throughout the blizzard, the streets are full of people helping each other shovel out their cars, their stoops and their walks. Strangers stop and inquire about other stranger’s well being, random people join in helping push stuck cars – six of us pushed an elderly woman’s Jaguar (not a good snow car) four blocks until she reached a plowed street. Politics make no difference; it’s just people helping their neighbors cope with a difficult situation. Read the rest of this entry »

Like many in Washington, I watched the State of the Union speech for clues of new directions or different proposals coming from the President especially in the wake of the Massachusetts election. The one I found most interesting was not the pivot to the emphasis on jobs but the inclusion of a trade agenda in the speech. Read the rest of this entry »

No one can see the destruction and suffering of the Haitian people without wanting to reach out and help ease their suffering.  That is certainly true for the members of Business Roundtable who have contributed more than $22 million dollars in cash and in kind aid to date. Read the rest of this entry »

As the Congressional and Administration efforts to craft the final health care reform legislation get close to completion, I am reminded that there is a fine line between getting it right or wrong.  Take for instance the debate about whether or not to impose a tax on employers who provide their Medicare retirees with benefits and obtain Retiree Drug Subsidy that was begun in the Medicare Modernization Act.  It has been a successful program and has kept retirees’ plans intact. Read the rest of this entry »

I sat down to write a “New Year’s” post when I got the news of the sudden and unexpected death of Paula Nowakowski – Chief of Staff to House Republican Leader John Boehner. Read the rest of this entry »

Our CEOs were in town last week for our quarterly meeting.  Whenever they get together I get more insight into what is really happening in the economy than from any sort of statistics.  A major retailer CEO shared with me that consumers in stores have returned to their normal shopping habits. They are not buying as much but at least they are not staying away like last spring. A CEO of a large transportation company noted that loads are trending up; one CEO of an internet services company noted that online volume is up as are click through rates.  A major manufacturing CEO says he extended more than a billion in credit to his small and medium suppliers to sustain them in the absence of bank lending…This is not all great news but signs that the economy is coming back. Read the rest of this entry »

Thumbing through the papers this morning, I happened upon this op-ed in the WSJ about the Roundtable and an alleged internal revolt we are having about support for health care reform. Read the rest of this entry »