Smart CEOs are betting on emerging market for growth at home.
The Oregon Legislature is in the closing hours of its 2012 session. Conflicting, special interest driven, views of what would create jobs divide Democrats and Republicans, with neither side pushing for more international exports or changes in Oregon’s educational system to support more exports. The Oregonian article “Oregon 2012 Legislature starts final week (maybe) with job bills very much in debate” by Michelle Cole reports (here):
Republicans want to leverage Oregon's natural resources, creating more jobs by increasing logging on state forests, drawing more water out of the Columbia River for farmers and expanding enterprising zones that offer tax breaks to businesses that locate in economically hard-hit areas.
Democrats' jobs agenda focuses primarily on getting capital into the hands of businesses through government-backed loans, grants or public works projects.
Philosophical differences between the parties have killed many proposals because they couldn't get majority support.
House Democrats tried last Thursday to persuade House Republicans to go along with a plan offering $29.6 million in lottery bond financing for transportation, public works and community college construction projects.
Rep. Dave Hunt, a Democrat from Gladstone and co-chair of the Transportation and Economic Development Committee, reminded his colleagues that they all said they wanted to create jobs and many of these projects were ready to go.
Neither side is offering proposals to increase exports or for the Oregon’s education system to have stronger foreign language programs or high school study abroad programs. Neither reflects the views of Chris Policinski, president and CEO of Land O'Lakes (here, from a CNN Money article by Nina Easton)):
….One key for U.S. job growth lays in selling more of our stuff to a non-American middle class. The profligate American buyer, long the driver of the global economy and the engine behind booms (and busts), is taking a big break from spending. Gallup reports a "new normal" of everyday spending far below 2008 levels. A July 2011 Harris Poll shows more and more people skimping on everything from electronic goodies to haircuts. Personal savings rates are up. And with down payments on mortgages back at 20% levels, it's hard to afford a home, let alone use it as a credit card to buy boats and flat screen TVs.
Business strategists increasingly recognize that not only are 95% of their potential consumers living outside U.S. borders, they are living in high-growth developing countries -- places like Asia and Latin America (where the World Bank forecasts 4.5% economic growth this year) and Africa (where total household spending already exceeds that of India). Tapping into those markets will help produce needed jobs.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.