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Magazine 24
CEOs Warn Obama
of Dangers Posed by Fiscal Cliff
by Tony Lee
Twelve prominent CEOs, many of whom have warned against the dangers of
raising taxes on those making over $250,000 and creating more economic
uncertainty, met with President Barack Obama on Wednesday to discuss
the looming fiscal cliff.
There were no CEOs from defense-related industries at the meeting, even
though sequestration will occur if no deal is reached on the budget
during Congress's lame-duck session.
The group included prominent donors to Democrats and Republicans. Three
of the attendees -- General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt, Xerox's Ursula
Burns, and American Express's Kenneth Chenault -- are on Obama's Jobs
Council, which Immelt chairs.
General Electric donated nearly $500,000 to Obama's presidential
campaign in 2008; the company was rewarded with taxpayer-funded
bailouts. General Electric also used to own MSNBC, the pro-Obama cable
station that also acts as his rapid response outlet.
Chenault, of American Express, has donated the maximum amount allowed
to Obama's Victory Fund and $50,000 to Obama's inaugural fund. He has
also donated to candidates like Hillary Clinton and Rick Santorum.
Other prominent Obama donors who attended the meeting include Ursula
Burns of Xerox, who gave $2,500 to Obama, and Andrew Liveris of Dow
Chemical, who gave $5,000 during the 2012 cycle. Burns was also part of
Obama's 2008 inaugural committee. Liveris donated to Romney and John
McCain during the 2008 election.
Indra Nooyi, of PepsiCo Inc., has donated exclusively to Democrats, as
has her husband.
Prominent Republican donors who attended the meeting include Aetna CEO
Mark Bertolini, John Watson of Chevron (who donated to the Republican
Senatorial Committee), David Cote of Honeywell International, Mike Duke
of Wal-Mart, and Robert McDonald of Procter & Gamble (who donated
to Romney's campaing in 2012).
Bertolini and groups affiliated with Aetna have donated millions to
Republican-leaning groups. Bertolini has said Aetna may have to lay off
workers or enact a hiring freeze due to economic uncertainty if Obama
and Republicans do not reach a deal on the budget.
Duke, of Wal-Mart, and Cote, of Honeywell, have donated heavily to
Republicans in the past.
Alan Mulally, of Ford Motor Company, has previously donated to
Democrats like Sen. Carl Levin and Rep. John Dingell, but Romney
received the most money from Ford's political action committee during
the last election cycle. Ginni Rometty, IBM's CEO, also attended the
meeting.
Cote, Honeywell's CEO, emphasized the importance of economic certainty
and avoiding the fiscal cliff, accusing economists of underestimating
the recession that would result from failing to do so.
"If the last debt ceiling discussion was playing with fire, this time
they're playing with nitroglycerin," Cote said in an interview this
week. "If they go off the cliff, I think it would spark a recession
that's a lot bigger than economists think. Some think it would just be
a small fire. I think it could turn into a conflagration."
Source: Breitbart
Read this and other articles at Mail Magazine 24
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