The need for fiscal stimulus is clear. The unemployment rate is at 6.7 percent and rising. Some forecasts expect the unemployment rate to reach 9-10 percent in 2009. Under-employment, which includes those who want full-time work but either settle for part-time work or stop looking altogether, reached a fourteen-year high last month. Financial markets continue to ossify as lenders deleverage, rebuild capital, and tighten lending standards. Consumers and businesses alike have become more attuned to risk and the potential for price deflation, which leads them to hold back on investment and spending. Retail sales continue to fall alongside stock prices. The “big three” U.S automakers soon could become just one, two, or none at all.

Our future standard of living is dependent on our policy response to the present crisis. That response has already driven up the federal budget deficit, and it will be necessary for the budget to go further into the red. We should not be afraid to spend what is necessary to pull the nation out of a potentially deep recession. Not acting would do even more damage to our fiscal standing...

» Read the Complete Commentary

» Bio of Elliot Schwartz

On December 15, 2008 key business leaders from across Mississippi gathered at the Jackson Marriot to help unveil Mississippi Building Blocks, a statewide plan for early childhood education. This is an extremely important step in Mississippi, where there is no statewide pre-kindergarten program. The forum, which was hosted by the Mississippi Economic Council, Momentum Mississippi, and Leadership Mississippi drew almost 800 people.

CED President Charles Kolb participated in a panel discussion at the Mississippi Building Blocks Forum providing a national perspective on how business leaders across the county are supporting efforts to improve early childhood education. Additional speakers included Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour; Roland Kell; General Manager, Chevron Products Company; Anthony Topazi, Chair, Momentum Mississippi and MEC President & CEO, Mississippi Power; as well as Mark Shriver; Vice President, Save the Children.

Building on CED's domestic success with early childhood education programs, The Committee for Economic Development is collaborating with the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings (WCD) to bring the importance of early child development to the forefront of international economic debates.

On December 4, 2008, at the Brookings Institution headquarters in Washington, D.C., CED and WCD hosted a conference: Business Champions for Early Child Development. This event highlighted the many benefits of early education and provided a model for business leaders to become engaged in early child development advocacy. The conference was attended by nearly 100 American and Canadian business leaders, international early child development experts, aid agency representatives and policy advocates.

We believe that business leaders who publicly support early child development have an opportunity to be key stakeholders for economic growth in emerging markets. This project seeks to build a business constituency for reform that can support developing countries in growing early child development programs toward a healthy citizenry and vibrant economy.

Notable speakers at the early education conference included:

• Charles S. Coffey, Former Executive Vice President, RBC Financial Group
• Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Chief Executive Officer, LEGO Group
• Charles E.M. Kolb, President, Committee for Economic Development
• Stanley S. Litow, President, IBM International Foundation
• Jack Shonkoff, MD, Director, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
• Ted Smyth, Chief Administrative Officer & Senior Vice President, Corporate & Government Affairs, Heinz
• James Wolfensohn, Founder, Wolfensohn Center for Development / Former President, World Bank

» Conference Agenda

» Press Release

As we prepare for a new President and a new Congress, we believe it is important for the nation’s political leaders and its business leaders to work together in a bipartisan manner to tackle the critical infrastructure and investment issues now facing our country. For the last decade, CED Trustees have addressed important public policy issues that are vital to our future. In some instances, such as campaign finance report and our work in early education, we have enjoyed some notable success. In other instances, however, progress has been stymied by political stalemate in Washington, DC, and/or the absence of a strong, coherent, and focused business voice.

The issues facing our country require sustained focus and immediate action. Leadership and Shared Purpose for America’s Future summarizes what we call CED’s “unfinished agenda.” At the top of this list are heath care reform, controlling our budget, trade, and savings deficits, reforming our entitlement programs, and investing in new infrastructure such as early education, sustainable energy, and the environment. We are pleased to have the financial support of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to underwrite our efforts to enlist more American business leaders to support this reform agenda. (Read More)

On Wednesday, October 29, 2008, CED hosted the first in a series of forums on the long-term financial health of the country. The event, held at the New York City headquarters of TIAA-CREF featured a discussion with CEOs and Senators on the role of the business community in health-care reform. Reforming our health care system will be an important step in any economic recovery plan. With the financial markets in turmoil, CED contends that controlling costs and improving the health care delivery system are more important than ever. These forums are made possible by a grant from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Speakers at the forum included:

• Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., President and CEO, TIAA-CREF
• Carl T. Camden, President & CEO, Kelly Services
• W. Bowman Cutter, Managing Director, E. M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., LLC
• Vanessa Fuhrmans, Reporter, Wall St. Journal
• Charles E.M. Kolb, President, Committee for Economic Development
• Lenny Mendonca, Chairman, McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey & Co.
• Matt Miller, Columnist, Fortune
• David Walker, President & CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation
• Senator Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator (D-Oregon)
• Senator Robert Bennett, U.S. Senator (R-Utah)
  

The CED Fall Meeting, held November 20th at the Hyatt Capitol Hill Hotel, featured two interesting programs that focused directly and indirectly on the on-going crisis in the financial markets. “Can Business Restore the Public Trust and Confidence In Itself?” was the title of the luncheon forum, moderated by Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein. The panel included Beth Brooke, Global Vice Chair - Public Policy, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, Ernst & Young, Pat Ford, President and CEO, U.S., Burson-Marsteller, William Donaldson, Chairman, Donaldson Enterprises, Former SEC Chairman (by phone from New York City), Joseph Kasputys, CEO, Global Insight, CED Co-Chair, Donald Peterson, CEO, Avaya (retired), CED Co-Chair, Matt Miller, author of “The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Unleash a New Prosperity” (January 2009), and CED President Charles Kolb. Matt Miller also gave a keynote address on his book. A breakfast forum was highlighted by remarks by CED Trustee Philip Howard, founder and Chair of Common Good. Mr. Howard’s new book is entitled “Life without Lawyers.”

View Video of the Luncheon Forum: "Can Business Restore the Public Trust and Confidence In Itself?"

The Committee for Economic Development has been awarded a grant from the newly formed Peter G. Peterson Foundation to address major public policy challenges facing America. The $1 million grant will be used to address directly three of the Peterson Foundation’s top tier issue areas: health care reform, the federal budget deficit (including the savings and current economic deficits), and entitlement reform. CED’s Trustees – business leaders and university presidents – will engage corporate CEOs to participate and share their expertise in finding long-term solutions to these issues that threaten America’s economic future. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation was established in early 2008, by Peter G. Peterson, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the co-founder and senior chairman of The Blackstone Group. The president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation is David M. Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States. CED and David Walker have been active participants in the “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour,” a series of public forums held over the past few years warning of the damage long-term federal budget deficits have on the U.S. economy. (read the entire press release)