Obama Tells BW He's Not Antibusiness

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So I guess my general point is that I hope what develops is a healthy debate with business in which we are trying to find a stable, sustainable set of policies—regulatory policies, tax policies, environmental policies—that create a level playing field and that are predictable enough that companies are able to thrive and compete. What you haven't seen from our Administration is a suggestion of a bunch of command-and-control, top-down, heavy-handed bureaucratic regulations that would bog businesses down. That's not our model. That's not how we think about these problems. That's not going to be our approach.

It seems like everything in Washington is always in progress—nothing's ever quite done. Have you succeeded on something where you had a high-five moment, where you said, "I wanted to do this. I've done it. It's done. It's checked off my list." And if so, what is it?

Well, if I say it's done, that worries me because then, you know, the thing—whole thing could unravel. I'd have to knock on some wood.

Well, go ahead and knock on wood. What were you thinking of?

I think we've done a really good job of stabilizing the financial system. I don't think people understand how close we were to the whole thing unraveling, and the degree to which, had it unraveled, we could be in a much worse situation than we're in right now. Now that's no consolation for the folks who're out of work or small businesses that are closing. But given how quickly we had to act, how much uncertainty and fear there was out there, in retrospect it is a very significant accomplishment.

If I could then follow on that, because I would say, even the people who grant that and very much like the ambitious agenda that you've tackled worry a lot about execution. They worry about the question of the economy, nonetheless still very weak. What do you say to those who argue you're risking the success of your agenda by taking on too much at a time?

Yeah. I—a couple of points I guess I would make. No. 1, I do think that it's important to understand that, although sound management theory says figure out what your core business is, focus on that, and don't get distracted, we don't always have the opportunity to choose our agenda. Sometimes the agenda is handed to us. Would I prefer having less on my plate? Absolutely. Would I prefer being able to phase in over time a series of initiatives—consolidate one, then move on to the next? Absolutely. The nature of the crisis that we experienced and the problems that we now face in terms of recovery mean that I've got to focus on a number of things at the same time. This is born of necessity, and not some sort of ideological imperative on my part to get no sleep and overwork my staff.

Point No. 2, if you look at health care in particular, because I think it's a good example of where people think, we've had an economic crisis, let's slow down and let's not try to take this on. I am not only compelled to move forward because of the letters I get every day from people who have lost their health care or in small businesses who used to give health care to their employees and can now no longer afford it. I'm just staring at my deficit projections over the next 10 or 15 years. Nothing would be easier for me to do than to say, "We can't afford to do health care right now. I've inherited $9 trillion worth of debt over 10 years, not of my making, and we're just going to stand pat." And if that's the case, there is no way that we're going to change the trajectory of the deficit, because almost all of it is driven by health-care inflation. Nondefense discretionary spending is going up about at the rate of inflation, in some cases even a little bit less. So all the growth in the federal deficit is basically Medicare, Medicaid, some Social Security, but that's not really a problem. So if I don't get started now getting some of these changes in place, particularly because they have to do with delivery-system reform that gets into very detailed aspects of the health-care system and will take years to refine, then we are going to be that much more vulnerable to major financial shocks from unsustainable debt loss, and investors, at some point, just blanching at financing the federal government any further.

Now, I recognize the skepticism on the part of some who say, whatever comes out of Washington is going to be bloated and will add to the deficit, and it's an illusion that you can take on health-care inflation, so better to just stand by and do nothing. I think that is irresponsible. I think that's an irresponsible position, and it is belied by our past history. We've been able to take on complex problems and solve them when people are constructive about it.

But the last point I would just make in terms of the operating economic philosophy here: My working assumption has always been, if the market could do it better, have the market do it. I have very little confidence in, as I said, some sort of command-and-control regulatory regime. I think businesses create jobs. And I'm a big believer in the profit motive and think free-market pricing is the best way to figure out how to distribute goods and services in a complex economy. In that sense, maybe I spent too much time at the University of Chicago, but I'm pretty steeped in what would be considered a very mainstream view of the economy and government's role in it. I just think it's a sign of how far our ideological pendulum has swung that the things we suggest are somehow deemed antibusiness. And if we suggest that after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, maybe we should strengthen regulations in the financial system; if we propose not a single-payer health-care plan, but a plan that builds off the existing employer-based system, but has some insurance reforms in it and squeezes some efficiencies and incentivizes better care for lower prices, that that's somehow seen as this radical step. You know, if we think that we should make sure that the tax code is not encouraging the exporting of jobs, and if there's a way of doing it—at least creating a level playing field so the companies who invest here at home are doing at least as well—those aren't real radical propositions. And so there's, I guess, going to need to be some sort of cultural adjustment over the next couple of years.

But I will tell you that if you talk to ordinary Americans right now, they feel at least as cynical about business as they are about government. And part of my motivation here is to channel what is going to be, I think, a lot of populist energy in a constructive way that does not end up preventing us from continuing to be the most dynamic, innovative economy.

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