Economy

Thomas ‘Danny’ Boston, professor of economics at Georgia Tech

Q: Given our country’s economic crisis, what kinds of fiscal policies should President-elect Barack Obama pursue?

A: We need a very, very large fiscal stimulus. It should be a minimum of $300 billion. Right now [Congress is] considering between $150 billion to a max of $300 billion. I would make the majority of that stimulus through a tax rebate to get money into individuals’ hands for the holiday season. All of the signs show that there’s a significant amount of belt-tightening ahead. The tax rebates would counteract that. The other [stimulus] would be to put money into infrastructure investment. There are bridges that need to be addressed immediately. This would put people to work quickly. There could be an investment tax credit for businesses that undertake new investment spending. New equipment. Factories. Jobs would be the indirect effect of that.

Q: What changes in global trade policies and agreements could affect U.S. businesses?

A: The most important thing is to have … in the past we called it industrial policies. Essentially, the government needs to work more closely with industry to increase competitiveness of U.S. industry. We need more incentives for research and development. We’ve been approaching the whole issue of trade in a backward way. We’ve been erecting more trade barriers because we’re concerned about job losses. But ultimately that policy can’t be sustained.

We have to compete in a global economy… . The most effective policies for the government to improve our trade position would be to promote incentives for research and development. The government also should give incentives that would make it easier to commercialize research. We also need to address the long turnaround time in getting new products patented. We should make research broadly available. If you fund research at universities, that research should be made available to industries, and industries then can use it to develop new products and become much more competitive.

Q: The government has bailed out the financial industry with a $700 billion package. Are there any other U.S. industries too big to fail?

A: While I supported the financial bailout, I don’t think it’s as effective as it should be. Not only are you rewarding businesses that made bad policies, but you’re picking winners and losers and that’s not good for the U.S. economy. It would be much more effective if the government provided a fund that profitable businesses could borrow from and use that to acquire businesses that are threatened with financial problems or bankruptcy. You don’t want the government stepping in and owning the private business. The government could put them into receivership, which prevents them from going into immediate bankruptcy. And that’s just temporary. Then it would make arrangements for other more viable corporations to acquire those businesses.

Richard Anderson, CEO, Delta Air Lines

Q: What kinds of fiscal policies should President-elect Obama pursue, given the economic crisis?

A: We need to get all the losses in the financial industry out on the table now, so it doesn’t jolt the economy for months to come. The economy has to hit bottom before the country can climb back up and really move forward. Second, we need another economic stimulus package to jump-start the economy. Third, we need worker retraining programs for those who have lost jobs.

Q: What is the foremost concern for your business, and what could the new president do about it?

A: We must solve the air traffic control problem in our country. It’s been studied by several administrations and nothing has been accomplished. Once we make this infrastructure investment to use 21st century technology to guide the nation’s airspace, it will have a marked impact on airlines’ ability to consistently deliver on-time performance for our customers and reduce fuel burn, thereby reducing emissions and contributing to a greener environment.

Q: What changes in global trade policies and agreements could affect your business positively and negatively?

A: U.S. companies have to remain competitive in the global economy. We cannot use trade protectionism as a substitute for competitiveness.

Q: Will you be hiring, firing or maintaining existing employment levels over the next six months? The next year? Explain your decision.

A: Delta’s recent merger with Northwest Airlines provides new opportunity for our employees by creating a more global and financially secure airline. That is the best job security any company can provide.

Q: The government has bailed out the financial industry with a $700 billion package. Are there any other U.S. industries too big to fail? If so, why? If not, why not?

A: Airlines are critical to the nation’s economy and infrastructure. Consolidation, for instance, is necessary to strengthen our business. This is why Delta took the industry’s first step to merge and create a truly global airline that is well-positioned to compete with airlines of all types around the globe.

Rick Smith, CEO, Equifax credit reporting agency

Q: Given the current economic crisis, what kinds of fiscal policies should President-elect Obama pursue?

A: We have significant deficit and deficits mounting every day. He’s got to be fiscally responsible by spending less and balancing the budget.

Q: What is the foremost concern for your business and what could the new president do about it?

A: We’re a regulated business. Our business is critical to global commerce. If the new administration moves too far to the left on issues such as data privacy and changes the use of data in general, it could create problems. If he realizes that, he’ll manage from the middle and there shouldn’t be any negative impact.

Q: Will you be hiring, firing or maintaining existing employment levels over the next six months to a year?

A: It’s a brutal economic environment, but we’ll manage. We don’t contemplate any significant reductions or any significant hirings.

Q: The government has bailed out the financial industry with a $700 billion package. Are there any other U.S. industries too big to fail?

A: The one industry we have to keep our eye on is the auto industry. While I don’t always agree with the idea of government intervention, the idea of one, two or all three of them going bankrupt has a tremendous impact on employment. They’re the food chain with auto dealers, manufacturers, suppliers. There could literally be millions of people unemployed.

John Turpin, owner, Vinocity Kirkwood, an Atlanta restaurant and wine bar

Q: Given our country’s economic crisis, what kinds of fiscal policies should President-elect Obama pursue?

A: Our federal government needs to balance their budget, and we need to turn the progressive clock that is our national deficit around. The best thing for our economy and country is to be the best place to employ someone. We have a stable democracy. We’ve got a lot of things going right. But our tax system is overbearing. The Fair Tax [a proposed national sales tax] rate would actually change based upon the efficiency of government and the consumption of the population. It would give us a number that would allow us to hold our lawmakers accountable. There’s layers and layers and layers. It’s very complicated to do business in our country. We have to deal with the federal government, state government, county government and city government. That’s a whole lot of folks with hands in your pocket.

Q: What is the foremost concern for your business, and what could the new president do about it?

A: To have more consumers, more diners, and that’s possible through more job creation. Our federal government policies can do things to promote business. But great markets make great markets. The ’90s were highly successful because we created new jobs. Internet. Cellphones. We created a lot of revenue and jobs through these new markets. The way we’re going to see new markets created is for government to get out of the way of the entrepreneurs. We all want to pay our part. We appreciate our roads and having a strong defense. We appreciate a lot of things our government does. But the tax system is broken. There’s a new car factory [being built] out near West Point [in west Georgia]. Kia gets offered a lot of tax holidays to come in and create jobs, which is wonderful. But I’m a native Atlantan and a native Georgian. When I create jobs, I’m not offered any packages like that.

Q: Will you be hiring, firing or maintaining existing employment levels over the next six months to a year?

A: Hopefully, I’ll be hiring. Based upon credit markets reopening and the economy, I feel the whole energy of the election and the over-sensationalizing of the economic crisis has affected the spending habits of folks whose income has not been affected. With a new energy and a new president and the election being over, folks will resume spending and celebrating life.

—- TAMMY JOYNER and PERALTE C. PAUL

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WHAT HE SAID

“I’ve paid for every element of this economic agenda —- by ending a war that’s costing us billions, closing tax loopholes for corporations, putting a price on carbon pollution and ending George Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.”

—- Obama, Feb. 13

Excerpts from Obama’s “Renewing the American Economy” speech in New York on March 26:

The American experiment has worked in large part because we guided the market’s invisible hand with a higher principle. A free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. That’s why we’ve put in place rules of the road: to make competition fair and open, and honest.

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The core of our economic success is the fundamental truth that each American does better when all Americans do better.

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Instead of establishing a 21st century regulatory framework, we simply dismantled the old one, aided by a legal but corrupt bargain in which campaign money all too often shaped policy and watered down oversight. In doing so we encouraged a winner-take-all, anything-goes environment that helped foster devastating dislocations in our economy. … And since then we’ve overseen 21st century innovation —- including the aggressive introduction of new and complex financial instruments like hedge funds and nonbank financial companies —- with outdated 20th century regulatory tools. … Not surprisingly, the regulatory environment failed to keep pace. When subprime mortgage lending took a reckless and unsustainable turn, a patchwork of regulators were unable or unwilling to protect the American people.

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In our 21st century economy, there is no dividing line between Main Street and Wall Street. The decisions made in New York’s high-rises have consequences for Americans across the country. And whether those Americans can make their house payments, whether they keep their jobs or spend confidently without falling into debt, that has consequences for the entire market. The future cannot be shaped by the best-connected lobbyists with the best record of raising money for campaigns.

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“Infrastructure is where we’ve starved the economy. This is an opportunity at the national level to say, ‘Here are all the things we should have been doing and now have to do to get our economy to grow.’ ”

JOSEPH STIGLITZ, Columbia University economics professor