Washington — On the campaign road, President Joe Biden likes to take a firm stance against corporate America.
The Democrat urges people that companies should pay more taxes, and he criticizes many businesses for driving up prices by inciting “greedflation” and “shrinkflation.”
However, during the past several months, top Biden administration officials have increased their outreach to CEOs and other corporate leaders, inquiring about their needs. Former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee, believes the business community to be his home turf.
Both candidates want to message voters heading into November that they can work with employers, even if the deeply divided electorate has made many businesses hesitant of overtly picking sides politically.
The Biden team’s pitch to business executives goes like this: We believe the economy is doing well, but we’d like to hear from you about how we might encourage investment.
Biden Asks CEOs How To Further Boost The Economy While Trump Says Business Is On His Side
“They know that they will always be heard,” said Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council. “We are pragmatic. “We solve problems for them.”
On Thursday, Trump will make his case to the Business Roundtable, an organization of more than 200 CEOs, about why the economy would benefit if he returned to the presidency.
Biden was also invited to appear, but he will be in Italy for a Group of Seven conference of world leaders. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, a former CEO, will present the president’s vision to the group.
Biden has consistently worked to strike a balance between business and labor interests. He mitigates his criticism of corporations by noting that, as a former senator from Delaware, he hails from the “corporate capital of the world.”
Trump, for his part, has built his reputation as a millionaire property developer by marketing everything from educational courses to steaks and neckties. He also has his eponymous Trump Media & Technology Group listed on the stock market.
Trump, who lowered corporate taxes throughout his reign and promised to reduce regulations, has gathered backing from Wall Street billionaires such as Stephen Schwarzman, who described him as a “vote for change.”
The Washington Post reported that Trump had encouraged oil business executives to assist in funding his campaign in exchange for the profits his administration would generate for them, a claim that the Trump campaign denied.
Despite this year’s growing stock market and low 4% unemployment rate, Trump has branded the US economy as “horrible.” His message resonates with voters because of the 2022 inflation rise, which has left many Americans gloomy about the economy.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated that “business leaders and working families alike are eager for the return of these common-sense policies” such as tax reduction, deregulation, and greater oil and natural gas production.
During their business outreach, Biden’s top advisers heard a different economic perspective than what Trump is proposing. According to administration officials, the CEOs they’ve spoken with are largely pleased with the performance of the stock market and the overall economy, as inflation has dropped without the recession that some had predicted.
According to the Biden team, American business leaders are seeking strategies to prolong growth. There aren’t enough skilled workers to fill the offered positions. Government permitting should be expedited. They also generally support the administration’s push to prolong a business tax benefit for R&D costs.
Biden Asks CEOs How To Further Boost The Economy While Trump Says Business Is On His Side
According to many Biden administration officials, corporate leaders have raised concerns about Trump, despite the fact that the White House-CEO discussions have not expressly addressed the November election. Trump’s tariff increases risk disrupting trade partnerships and harming company profitability. Stocks and bonds might plummet if Trump attempts to seize control of politically independent bodies like the Federal Reserve or undermines the rule of law, which has long been a pillar of American capitalism.
Biden’s staff extended its outreach at the request of Zients. The chief of staff invited six other top officials to a February dinner with the purpose of developing a plan to communicate more with CEOs and their predecessors.
Each official pledged to speak to ten CEOs. By the end of April, the group had spoken with over 100 people. In May, Biden met with eight CEOs, including those of United Airlines, Marriott, Xerox, Corning, and Citigroup, as a result of his outreach.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said he left the discussions with a better understanding of how issues overlapped. Renewable energy measures implemented by the administration, for example, were critical in the development of artificial intelligence data centers.
Adeyemo stated that the government has had some progress in decreasing the federal paperwork required for permitting, resulting in shorter processing periods that could otherwise take two years. And, with certain employment initiatives losing funds linked to pandemic-era federal aid, the administration is examining if businesses can take over the financing.
The administration makes a big-picture argument that its plans are better for overall growth, which in turn is good for profits.
“One of the things we don’t do is pretend we’re going to agree with the business community on everything,” Adeyemo stated. “We want feedback and we’re going to continue to talk to you.”
According to those familiar with the discussions at the Biden meeting, Brendan Bechtel, CEO of the Bechtel Group, a major construction company, emphasized the shortage of trained labor. Because corporations cannot hire everyone they require, some are forced to forego business in ways that reduce their revenues.
Biden Asks CEOs How To Further Boost The Economy While Trump Says Business Is On His Side
According to Labor Department estimates, there are currently 1.5 million more job vacancies than unemployed persons looking for work. And, as job positions have gone unfilled over the last year due to a labor shortage, employers have reduced their postings. Manufacturing companies, for example, have 516,000 unfilled positions, compared to 647,000 a year ago.
The shortfall is a result of both a strong employment market and decades of education systems that promoted universities while sometimes overlooking the need for tradesmen like electricians, plumbers, and welders. The ratio of males aged 25 to 54 in the work force has been declining for decades, and reversing that trend might bring millions back into the labor force.
“In the U.S., we got into a college-for-all mentality and other forms of skill development were demoted,” said Harry Holzer, a Georgetown University economist.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has made it a mission to bring more women into construction, and the success of her department’s funding efforts to resuscitate domestic computer chip production may be dependent on a huge pool of qualified workers. She stated that fixing the problem will require better collaboration with the employing industry.
“You need to start with the employers — which might sound not intuitive,” Raimondo stated. “You go to the company and figure out who they’re going to hire at what wages and what skills.”
Raimondo saw the problem from an economic standpoint, since companies would experience slower growth if they lacked skilled people. However, she also sees it as a cultural and political issue. One of Biden’s promises as he pursues a second term is that voters should feel positive about their chances of entering the middle class.
SOURCE – (AP)
