Tonus
07-21-2011, 01:06 PM
Wynn's Rant: One Among Many (http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=578866)
Business: Las Vegas CEO Steve Wynn drew attention for a boardroom rant denouncing the intolerable business climate fostered by the White House. He's hardly the first. What's happening is emblematic of a bigger problem.
In a Monday conference call, the casino magnate credited with revitalizing Las Vegas blasted President Obama, declaring him "the greatest wet blanket to business, progress and job creation in my lifetime."
The blast was remarkable for two reasons: Wynn has been a staunch supporter of the Obama administration from the beginning and still considers himself a Democrat. But even more remarkable, it's been out of character for CEOs such as Wynn to express their views in such blunt terms on political matters.
"A lot of people don't want to say that," he said. "They'll say, 'Oh God, don't be attacking Obama.' Well, this is Obama's deal, and it's Obama that's responsible for this fear in America," said Wynn. "The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution, and maybe 'we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest or (are) holding too much money.' We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists."
Business is being hammered, he said. "And I'm telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the president of the United States."
Wynn's words resonate because America's weak economic growth and high unemployment can be laid in large part to the inexperience of this president and his just-as-callow advisers.
In such a climate, it's no surprise that executive outbursts are erupting like lava from scorched earth. Wynn's remarks echo those on a lengthening list of CEOs including:
• 3M's George Buckley, who blasted Obama last February as anti-business. "We know what his instincts are," Buckley said. "We've got a real choice between manufacturing in Canada or Mexico — which tends to be more pro-business — and America," he told the Financial Times.
• Boeing's Jim McNerney, who in the Wall Street Journal last May called Obama's handpicked National Labor Relations Board's suit against his company a "fundamental assault on the capitalist principles that have sustained America's competitiveness since it became the world's largest economy nearly 140 years ago."
• Intel's Paul Otellini, who told CNET last August that the U.S. legal environment has become so hostile to business that there is likely to be "an inevitable erosion and shift of wealth, much like we're seeing today in Europe — this is the bitter truth."
• Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, who observed to radio host Hugh Hewitt last month that Obama "never had to make payroll," that "nobody has ever created a job in this administration" and that the president is "surrounded by college professors."
• GE's Jeffrey Immelt, one of Obama's biggest supporters, who hit out at the president last year. "Business did not like the U.S. president and the president did not like business," the FT reported him saying. "People are in a really bad mood. We have to become an industrial powerhouse again, but you don't do this when government and entrepreneurs are not in sync."
• Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, another Obama backer, who blasted Obama's bank tax in January 2010 as a "guilt tax," once called Obama's carbon tax idea "regressive" and this month denounced Obama's obsession with corporate jets.
These aren't the only ones. CEOs of battered oil companies like Chevron and Exxon Mobil, media companies like Fox News and Forbes, and business groups like the Chamber of Commerce have also spoken out. When the creators of jobs and wealth are saying the same thing, isn't it time for the White House to listen up?
There were two thoughts that came to mind, both sarcastic, cynical, and hopefully humorous.
1- I don't think that Steve Wynn is really a Democrat. He gives a lot of money to both parties, and it strikes me as an extension of the way business has always been for casino-owners in Las Vegas. Wynn has been paying protection money for a long time, and I'd guess that the smaller percentage goes to politicians.
2- Bernie Marcus of Home Depot gripes that Obama "never had to make payroll." Dude, he was a Chicago politician... OF COURSE he had to make payroll! *badoom tsssssssh!*
In any event, the comments from these guys may not surprise people (many of them have an axe to grind with the US government, if not the Obama administration specifically) but I think that it's a sign of an unusually high level of discontent. These guys don't just make campaign contributions and send gifts to politicians and political groups, they pay lobbying firms a lot of money to head to DC and work the isles. Speaking out against any administration can be very counter productive, because power in DC shifts all the time, and what politicians lack in scruples they make up for in long memories.
Thoughts?
Business: Las Vegas CEO Steve Wynn drew attention for a boardroom rant denouncing the intolerable business climate fostered by the White House. He's hardly the first. What's happening is emblematic of a bigger problem.
In a Monday conference call, the casino magnate credited with revitalizing Las Vegas blasted President Obama, declaring him "the greatest wet blanket to business, progress and job creation in my lifetime."
The blast was remarkable for two reasons: Wynn has been a staunch supporter of the Obama administration from the beginning and still considers himself a Democrat. But even more remarkable, it's been out of character for CEOs such as Wynn to express their views in such blunt terms on political matters.
"A lot of people don't want to say that," he said. "They'll say, 'Oh God, don't be attacking Obama.' Well, this is Obama's deal, and it's Obama that's responsible for this fear in America," said Wynn. "The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution, and maybe 'we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest or (are) holding too much money.' We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists."
Business is being hammered, he said. "And I'm telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the president of the United States."
Wynn's words resonate because America's weak economic growth and high unemployment can be laid in large part to the inexperience of this president and his just-as-callow advisers.
In such a climate, it's no surprise that executive outbursts are erupting like lava from scorched earth. Wynn's remarks echo those on a lengthening list of CEOs including:
• 3M's George Buckley, who blasted Obama last February as anti-business. "We know what his instincts are," Buckley said. "We've got a real choice between manufacturing in Canada or Mexico — which tends to be more pro-business — and America," he told the Financial Times.
• Boeing's Jim McNerney, who in the Wall Street Journal last May called Obama's handpicked National Labor Relations Board's suit against his company a "fundamental assault on the capitalist principles that have sustained America's competitiveness since it became the world's largest economy nearly 140 years ago."
• Intel's Paul Otellini, who told CNET last August that the U.S. legal environment has become so hostile to business that there is likely to be "an inevitable erosion and shift of wealth, much like we're seeing today in Europe — this is the bitter truth."
• Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, who observed to radio host Hugh Hewitt last month that Obama "never had to make payroll," that "nobody has ever created a job in this administration" and that the president is "surrounded by college professors."
• GE's Jeffrey Immelt, one of Obama's biggest supporters, who hit out at the president last year. "Business did not like the U.S. president and the president did not like business," the FT reported him saying. "People are in a really bad mood. We have to become an industrial powerhouse again, but you don't do this when government and entrepreneurs are not in sync."
• Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, another Obama backer, who blasted Obama's bank tax in January 2010 as a "guilt tax," once called Obama's carbon tax idea "regressive" and this month denounced Obama's obsession with corporate jets.
These aren't the only ones. CEOs of battered oil companies like Chevron and Exxon Mobil, media companies like Fox News and Forbes, and business groups like the Chamber of Commerce have also spoken out. When the creators of jobs and wealth are saying the same thing, isn't it time for the White House to listen up?
There were two thoughts that came to mind, both sarcastic, cynical, and hopefully humorous.
1- I don't think that Steve Wynn is really a Democrat. He gives a lot of money to both parties, and it strikes me as an extension of the way business has always been for casino-owners in Las Vegas. Wynn has been paying protection money for a long time, and I'd guess that the smaller percentage goes to politicians.
2- Bernie Marcus of Home Depot gripes that Obama "never had to make payroll." Dude, he was a Chicago politician... OF COURSE he had to make payroll! *badoom tsssssssh!*
In any event, the comments from these guys may not surprise people (many of them have an axe to grind with the US government, if not the Obama administration specifically) but I think that it's a sign of an unusually high level of discontent. These guys don't just make campaign contributions and send gifts to politicians and political groups, they pay lobbying firms a lot of money to head to DC and work the isles. Speaking out against any administration can be very counter productive, because power in DC shifts all the time, and what politicians lack in scruples they make up for in long memories.
Thoughts?