First thing today, we would like to congratulate David Gregory on becoming the moderator of MTP and we wish him long success, thus a new era begins for the program.
However, it's going to be the same old story for a while - economic gloom and all the talk to fix it. For good measure, political scandal takes politicians' eyes off the ball and that's where today's program began. Mr. Gregory spoke with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D) about Embroiled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The new moderator asked the attorney general with regard to her statements if there was some political motivation on her part. It's one of those questions that carries no merit but has to be asked, it's like the new standard in network interviewing.
With all the talk from the two guests mentioned above and then NBC's Political Director, Chuck Todd, and Chicago Sun-Times' Mary Mitchell after them, there's a simple bottom line to this entire drama. Governor Blagojevich is unable to see through his prime directive of the office he still holds, which is to serve the people of his statement. At this point, whether he is indicted or exonerated, he will remain unable to fulfill this duty. Therefore, step down immediately and if he can not see to himself to do that, remove him. Period.
Given the ensuing roundtable discussion with regard to the automotive bailout and the general economy, the above is (and here's a gross understatement) counterproductive is every way.
The aforementioned roundtable consisted of Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), Fmr. Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Wal-Mart President & CEO Lee Scott, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt. With the exception of Carly Fiorina, it was an interesting mix of opinions and perspectives. And make no mistake, the reason that we single out Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is because she slashed thousands of jobs and left the company is tremendous debt then collected the proverbial golden parachute... She said that because states have different, or more attractive as the case may be, business taxes that companies located simply based on that. To a small extent, that's true, but it sure helps in Alabama, for example, when Senator Richard Shelby manages $800 million+ in financial incentives for foreign auto to locate in his state. And now he is putting their interest ahead of America's interest. Her insights prove shallow.
Of course Gov. Granholm is going to defend the assistance to the auto industry - she's the governor of Michigan for Christ's sake, but her reasoning like everyone else's is steeped in common sense. In this economic state, we can not let the American auto industry go down. Her point that the tax burden would be far more costly to the American people than the bailout. The unemployment filing alone would be inside body shot. Too many job loses and the ripple effect... Well, let's just say that the ripples would be big enough to surf. Now here's the exchange between Governor Romney, former Presidential candidate, and Mr. Gregory:
GOV. ROMNEY: Well, I, I am glad to see that the proposal that was made by the chief executives of the Big Three didn't get accepted. They basically came to Washington saying, "Give us, give us a check so we can continue to fund business as usual." Look...
MR. GREGORY: Fourteen billion dollars is what they were, what they were...
GOV. ROMNEY: Well, and originally they wanted a lot more than that.
MR. GREGORY: Right.
GOV. ROMNEY: And I'm glad to see there was some progress made over the, the ensuing weeks. But, frankly, I think all Americans agree that we want a domestic automobile manufacturing sector. We don't want to see this go away.
There is a contradict in what he said, he is glad they didn't get the money, but doesn't want to see the auto industry go away... hmmm. Or should we sharply parse words and interpret "All Americans" does not include him? Mr. Romney's economic perspective comes from extraordinary long-term wealth, which has long seen him separated from the economic mainstream. Does he truly understand the struggle out there?
Maybe it's quite a populace post we written today, at least one more overt than usual, but the focus is all too obvious. It's painful for us to write BECAUSE it's so obvious. Why do we need to write it. But speaking of populace, two valuable perspective manifested themselves through two CEOs - Lee Scott of Wal-Mart and Eric Schmidt of Google. These two companies are modern American touchstones for business, Wal-mart as the pre-eminent retailer and Google proving itself essential to the web.
However, Wal-Mart is our economic existential dilemma. Generally, Americans dislike the business practices that Wal-Mart instills, from worker healthcare benefits and wages to trying to influence how their employees should vote. But Americans also like the low prices that Wal-Mart offers and that's why they go there. What was most impressive was the research Mr. Scott mentioned. For example, he discussed "Wal-Mart Moms" family eating habits, knowing how much they consume, but also the amount of leftovers they're eating. And you worry about someone knowing your social security number? Wal-mart's staked out in your refrigerator! (Please indulge our small bit of humor.)
But let's leave this week's column with this quote from Mr. Eric Schmidt. Fittingly, it is the CEO of Google who would state that, "This is not a time to be self-serving and that America can innovate its way out of anything." It's time to stop just talking...
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