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Subscribe to RSSU.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue is at the White House meeting with Chief of Staff Jack Lew and other senior administration officials about the so-called "fiscal cliff," a spokesperson at the GOP-leaning Chamber of Commerce told NBC News.
"This meeting is part of the ongoing dialogue on the fiscal cliff. The business community is always interested in being a positive force in addressing the economic challenges facing our country," the Chamber's spokesperson said. "Chamber members have been involved in many meetings with the administration in the past few weeks, and there are more meetings scheduled, as the business community continues to urge Congress and the administration to work together to avert the fiscal cliff."
Meanwhile, NBC News confirms that President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner spoke on the phone on Saturday. Both sides agreed to not characterize the call, only to acknowledge that it happened.
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This should be interesting seeing as how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is extremely Republican. At least we are getting all aspects in the mix. From labor to small business to big Corporations to Wall Street heavyweights.
Sometimes, there has been a race-to-the-bottom in corproate taxes, too many tax loopholes to lower tax revenue for investment in education and R&D which, if done well and well financed, can yiled cast economic returns..look at YouTube and the Internet.
.
But many states have competed with each other to lower corporate taxes to attrack businesses, losing vast tax revenue along the way...every state is a loser. It's better to have the federal government to impose uniform standard in corproate taxes, and then return taxes to states (revenue sharing)...which the GOP has always supported.
corrections to #1.1
investment in education and R&D which, if done well and well financed, can yield
yiledvastcasteconomic returns..look at YouTube and the Internet....
But many states have competed with each other to lower corporate taxes to
attrackattract businesses, losing vast tax revenue along the way...No polarized characterizations, seems that this is serious talk. A good bargain will be one that both sides hate.
Keep watching.
The Secret Service should have thrown the Sum-bitch out on His sorry "kick back ass". The only thing that "Chamber" is fit for is, pissing in. Even then, I wouldn't trust It not to have a hole in It. Hope Donohue didn't show up drunk.
I wonder why the President would not meet personally with the Camber of Commerce...it has a unique perspective which includes representing the interests of small business owners. Yes he has personally met with a number of others...just look at who they were it is a very extensive list!
Previously President met peersonaly with four labor leaders - Mary Kay Henry of the Service Employees International Union, Lee Saunders of the public employees union AFSCME, Dennis Van Roekel of the National Education Association and Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization for U.S. labor and leaders of civic and politically progressive groups. They were John Podesta and Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress, Robert Greenstein of the think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Laura Burton Capps of Common Purpose Project, Max Richtman of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security, Justin Ruben of MoveOn and Deepak Bhargava of Center for Community Change. And he also met with the CEO's of several large corporations....Amex etc.
Small business accounts for the majority of job creation in this country so to to say that the status of the Chamber (in the eyes of the administration) is not the equivalent of say .... MoveOn,org is not a good sign for the small business owner...or for the unemployed!
Oh, I dunno, could it have something to do with this?
The Chamber spent nearly $24 million to defeat several high-
profile Democratic Senate candidates, including Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, former governor Timothy M. Kaine in Virginia and Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. But out of 15 Senate races where the business organization put down money, only two went the Chamber’s way.
The results were not much better in the House, where the Chamber poured more than $7 million into 22 races, according to the CRP. The Chamber’s candidates picked up only four wins.
If you're going to equate the US Chamber of Commerce with small business...don't bother. Most of us already know the US Chamber has little in common with the individual city chambers (which are made up of small businesses) throughout the country. The US Chamber is little more than a mouthpiece for the likes of the Koch Brothers...why would the President of the United States waste his time.
@Ol Doc and EEngineer: Oh I suppose it has at least as much value as meeting with MoveOn.org, who spent millions of dollars in pursuit of their far left agenda...and their targeted races. Perhaps he could meet with them just for the sake of appearence...you know...to balance out meeting with labor groups, ultra liberal think tanks and (I don't know how to classify MoveOn...I just wish they would).
This Old Blue Dog maybe a die hard...but I just can't square his rhetoric (moving to the middle) with his actions...as far as I am concerned the "Jury is out"!
The COC is looking to salvage something out of the mess they helped create. They're starting to realize that changes are going to come whether they like it or not. The next question is, will they actually come to some sort of agreement with the WH (and then give marching orders to the GOP) or hope to prevent any meaningful change? I suspect the former, as these guys aren't idealogy-driven but simply want to hang on to their influence (and money).
The GOP really has painted themselves into a corner. If they keep up obstructing everything and the Dems have any success in repairing the economy, their cries of 'the sky is falling' will be proven false. Same result if they move towards the middle and things get better. Even if the Dems don't have any luck fixing the economy, if the GOP keeps saying 'NO!' they will take the blame for not governing. It's a no-win for them. Their only possible hope is to cooperate with the Dems and then if the economy goes down in flames they can say 'I told you so'.... but they started saying that as soon as Obama got elected so that lie has already been exposed.
How and when did the US Chamber of Commerce become the mouth piece of the republican party? I know several local chambers and they do not sound anything like what is coming out of the mouths of the rich leaders of the Chamber of Commerce cream of the crop. ?????
Off with the heads of the Chamber of Commerce. They probably want to keep the filibuster law at its extreme limits rather than what it was meant to be!
Off with the heads of the Chamber of Commerce. They probably want to keep the filibuster law at its extreme limits rather than what it was meant to be!
the "chamber of commerce" is the next thing to a teabagger....f#$k them...
let them in the door....then mace um.....lmao...
Where was all this interest in co-operation prior to the election ? The COC is a bag of snakes and are not to be trusted to what is right for the majority of the country unless they are forced into it.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn't represent, "American businesses." It is definitely NOT an agency of the United States government.
They're a nationwide lobbying federation that promotes the narrow political and financial interests of right-wing, near-anarchist ideologues, trying to maximize business profits for themselves, at the expense of everyone else.
They give a lot of patriotic-sounding, "unfettered free enterprise" lip service when they're in the public eye ...but what they do and whom they help (or not help) behind closed doors, reveals their selfish, "Ayn Rand" agenda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Chamber_of_Commerce
The President meets with the union head of big businesses that pretend to compete with each other. Like they're not paying dues or campaign contributions to keep their organization alive.
The Chamber of Commerce is a right wing lobby period. As is the NFIB - National Federation of Independant Business "the voice of small business". Total BS, considering their idea of "small business" is 500 employees or less. 500! That's no small business! Yet they go around collecting fees from Mom and Pop businesses and using the funds to promote the right wing agenda.
Regarding the Chamber. I've never known them to do anything on a local level to actually promote growth, business, or employment. But hey, they're great at ribbon cuttings.
ROTFLMAO!!!!!
Jack Lew, another Liberal/Progressive Ivy League bobblehead elitist. This buffoon wouldn't know commerce if it slapped him upside the head. The Chamber might as well just talk to the White House janitor, he knows more about Main Street than any of these statists running around in this administration. I'm sure Barrack Husseins wealth of business knowledge putting together a few picnics in Chicago as a community organizer gives the Liberal cabal all the reason to believe he has a clue. Or maybe having written a couple books, ABOUT HIMSELF, elevates him to authority level in the delusional Liberal mind.
Lew and all the other "senior administration officials" have most likely never started or run a business in their life, and the Libbies believe they will somehow fix the economy. I'm sure their broad scope of knowledge will be the same dysfunctional ideology of more "$timulu$. Our first $timulu$ disaster only cost us over $200,000 to create each of the alleged 5 million jobs. Today the uninformed masses still promote the "American Jobs Act" (AJA). Of course none of them have ever read the 155-page bill, this is typically because it's 154 pages more than they can comprehend.
The usual useful idiot has no idea what's in the bill. They simply tune into their favorite Liberal/Progressive news source or blog to find out the cutesy little slogans, tag-lines or talking points they are to allow themselves to be indoctrinated in. They can't understand that it's just another mish-mash of taxes, subsidies, regulations and restrictions. All these things distort the free-market and create confusion and chaos rather than a functional workforce that industry can create if just left alone. Of course the AJA is resplendent with bias towards the union-rich construction and teaching sectors predominantly via blue state bailouts. This is dumped on the unwashed masses as covert union subsidies in the name of the public good.
I'm sure Jack Lew and his merry band of pointy-headed elitists will make decisions based on politics rather than economic policy. This has been the mandate of the Barrack Hussein presidency so far. Why stop now? The mean, scary, ambitious, rich, bogeymen will be demonized for their success and the class-warfare/envy meme will continue. In the meantime Barrack Hussein will promote his mediocrity campaign by telling the American people that the best they can ever achieve is to be middle-class. The rationale is simple for this convoluted ideology. It's much easier to tell Americans they can only achieve a middle-class status than to tell them they have endless opportunities to do more. Statists don't believe anyone but they and their Bourgeoisie cronies can know what is best for the proletariat. What’s really confusing is why the Liberal masses believe it.
As we see the once good mid-wage jobs that were lost in the recession being replaced with low-wage/low-no benefit service jobs, the Liberals cling to this as some symbol of success. As the fiscal cliff approaches there are 2 million Americans that will run out of unemployment benefits. This will be dealt with in the typical Liberal fashion, based on emotions. This should never even be an issue had an intelligent economic plan been proposed by Barrack Hussein. We have been running the biggest economy without a budget for 1,308 days, this is the biggest embarrassment most Americans should be outraged about. But of course, the statists don’t need a budget, they can just wave their magic wands over us all and bring us back to prosperity.
All they have to do is just keep chanting “Hope and Change”.
Waaaaaa....
Roy,
Can't you shut your trap to the ultra conservative Tea party line of garbage.? You lost and there are 11 less teabuggers now in Congress. We have a mandate to spend so just keep telling the right to walkout and keep walking away and see how bad things will be for the sick (GOP) God Owful Party in 2 more years.
The Chamber of Commerce members have been becoming less enthused about their business positions in recent years.
Many small business owners who used to be Republican, now see the Chamber and Republicans as hurting small business customers, which hurts small business owners.
Proof? Remember you used the word "many" so a few won't do. Thanks.
This, from someone who told us that Romney was going to win?
Really, Ben?
My business wouldn't join the Chamber of Commerce even if it was free.
They keep saying that low taxes are good for jobs, yet the taxes are at historical lows and we have no jobs.
The Maine Chamber of Commerce asked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to stop carpet bombing us with ads attacking Independatent, moderate Angus King, candidate for Senate. Members of the Maine Chamber of Commerce supported King, because they'd worked with him when he was a pro-business governor. The U.S. Chamber refused to listen to the local chapter, and kept attacking King, just because he didn't have a (R) after his name. I have no respect for that organization.
And I do know how to spell Independent!
The Chamber's positions include:
Supports the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
Supports corporate globalization/free trade and outsourcing.
Opposes financial regulation.
Opposes the DISCLOSE Act, which aims to limit foreign influence on U.S. elections.
Opposes healthcare reform as written in the Affordable Health Care for America Act. The Chamber views health care reform as necessary, but prefers market-based solutions.
Opposes action on climate change. The Chamber recognizes that climate change is real, but disputes the scientific consensus that warming mostly results from human activity and questions whether anything can be done to reduce climate change. The Chamber emphasizes the economic impact of climate decisions.
Supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Neutral on social questions such as abortion and gay marriage.
Campaigned against portions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Argued a case all the way to the Supreme Court opposing mandatory immigration status checks by employers in Arizona.
Supported corporate personhood and allowing corporations to spend unlimited sums on electioneering via an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United v FEC. Its position is opposed by some advocates for independent businesses.
Does the Chamber support secession? Seems that they previously were all in for Willard.....what happened?
The article below is by Jonathan Gurwitz, a local newspaper columnist, he tries to be non-partisian, but, refers to Lawrence O'Donnell as a "Liberal loudmouth" and calls "Jim Moore and other Democratic mouthpieces" hacks.......
Gurwitz is the hack......wasting ink......
http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Secessionist-stupidity-is-bipartisan-4062073.php
The Chamber of Commerce equates to The Little Shop of Horrors as far as the average American is concerned.
The Chamber's time has come and gone just like Grover's. Both need to Go Away!
dittos..the chamber is just a fund raiser for the republican tea party...they are now licking their wounds and trying to raise money for the next presidential election....good luck with that coc...
GOP is putting a restraining order on Grover's wriggle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe that's why they oppose taxing the rich more. They won't have as much corporate welfare money to give to the RNC for the next election..
Sign seen near Fiscal Cliff: Watch out for falling republicans!
Ha! Good one Forrest!
Oh Forrest, can I do a little push, pretty please?????
No Pushing! There are already more than a few political banana peels by the edge they are trying to tiptoe around. If they fall off it will be of their own doing, in spite of polling that clearly show the electorate is not at all in favor of protecting the all time low tax rates for the wealthy. The ball is in their court, if they don't act in good faith the tax cuts expire and the spending cuts kick in. If that happens they will take the political heat and their signed pledges to Norquist will be the smoking gun that seals their political fate.
Forrest - okay but you're no fun! I might throw a new banana peel - just for grins!
Ha SS when they slip on your banana peels and put a new crack in their butts they might be a little more receptive to the health-care bill.
The GOP are looking for their Tea Loonies on Mars !!!!!!!!!!!!
The GOP are looking for their Tea Loonies on Mars !!!!!!!!!!!!
Ah, yes, the venerable, self-proclaimed "nonpartisan" U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who did everything possible to defeat the President in both elections. One can only hope Obama gives them absolute hell...and an ultimatum...now that he no longer needs to concern himself with accommodating the incessant (and usually impossible) demands of such hate-mongering right-wing fringe groups.
They be talkin' like lawyers now!!!
Why? THis guy shouldn't be allowed in the WH except for a tour of it. Let's hope that WH advisors don't let these radicals get within reach of the President like they did with Gov Jan Brewer of AZ. That should never ever have been allowed to happen.
Don't you wish the President had taken Jan Brewers finger and broken it. I would have loved to have seen that! Actually its never too late!!
The criminal COC at it again buying/bribing the heads of our plutocracy serving their best interests of profit motive while the 99% of people's/voters/citizens who interests run contradictory to the COC are left behind, exploited and ruled over once again! SMH.
Whether its Obama, Romney, Bush or Clinton all are owned completely by corporate entities and the COC which is a private group of giant corporate interests who pay for and write legislation is the major lobby/bribery group subverting democracy.
We are a fascist nation its clear to see for anyone who dares to look.
The Chamber has become the agent of the mega wealthy, the largest corporations and the Republican Party. They do not represent the interests of small and medium businesses and in fact act contrary to their interests to serve the benefit of those they do serve. They did so on the ACA and will continue to follow the big money.
The majority of our elite wealthy, including Wall Street CEOs, are Democrats. What Obama and other leftys do not understand, however, is that those CEOs check their politics at the front door when they go to work. The primary job of everyone in the executive suites of companies, large and small, is to create more value for shareholders. That is actually written into law.
Peter17 - yes their primary job is to make money for shareholders but never at the expense of the country. The vast majority of shareholders would vote against any act that threatened the country.
SS - you are incorrect. CEOs are responsible to their shareholders who are located around the world. Companies belong to their shareholders, not to countries. It is not in the interest of the country for any company to hire employees it does not need.
If you remember during this past financial crisis the CEO of Bank of America, Ken Lewis, who was trying to buy Merrill Lynch. When he learned late in the game that some of the financials of ML had deteriorated, he wanted to take that information back to his shareholders to ask for their OK to still make the purchase. Paulson asked him not to "For the good of the country!" The SEC almost brought Lewis up on charges for not ignoring Paulson and taking the issue to BOA shareholders. Political intervention prevented the SEC from moving forward with the charges. By law, shareholders come first- PERIOD.
Shareholders? lol The majority of stock is held by these same plutocrats in the 99%.
http://www.epi.org/publication/wealth-stock-market-holdings/
Do you have ANY FACTUAL DATA to back that CLAIM?
obviously not.
No Peter17: It is not the 'shareholders' it is the 'equity-shareholders' that benefit, even as the company goes under. The common-stock holders get nothing, as all the assets belong to the 'equity-shareholders'. All the corporate raiders do get out of Dodge with the loot.
It's always legal, isn't it Peter! Even when they they lie, it is perfectly legal.
Not to mention all the corporate welfare they also receive for creating those so-called jobs we're still waiting for. What Peter doesn't understand is that these moochers don't feel they are beholden to the USA, even though they took taxpayers money to better their company. Stop corporate welfare before any entitlement cut, till they can show that the money they begged for produces a significant amount of jobs. Shareholders not beholden to the USA don't need our money to better their wealth. They have enough money of their own to invest.
I wouldn't have characterised the Chamber as "a GOP leaning organization". It is a lobbying organization for a dwindling number of big businesses.
James - clearly for the past 3 elections they have been right leaning. And, they take donations from foreign countries which should not be allowed in our political system.
JAMES, "GOP leaning organization"??? Tell me you are joking, I beg of you. I fail to see how the COC could possibly get any further to the Right. They have spent hundreds of millions repeatedly in an effort to defeat Democrats, Obama in particular.
hey seeking...i assume you are an obama supporter.......did you know that obama took campaign contributions from foreigners??.......probably not as most of you libs don't put much stock in reality.......obama still sucks...
mcpaddywack - proof please - oh and that doesn't include any right wing rag!
i feel bad for these guys from the chamber of commerce...can you imagine meeting with anybody in the white house about business, job creation, etc etc?.......like pissing into the wind......obama still sucks......
mcpaddywack - you're still completely wacked!
and you are totally insane......but i don't discriminate against those less fortunate than I!!!
i love losers..especially republican ones..they don't know how to win and aren't suspicious as how to lose...
Well mcpaddywack....we know what you are whacking. Try and get your limp brain around making opportunity for the bulk of the populace.
Speaking of corruption and right-wing terrorists.
I say hang the traitors. ALL OF THEM.
We start with a triple hanging - Boehner, McConnell and Cantor.
hey throw in obama and you got a deal!!!....what a moron...
Ain't gonna happen! But I wouldn't mind seeing Bush and Cheney included!
what would happen if a federal law was passed that stated that ceo pay is not allowed to exceed a factor of the average worker's pay in the same company by a metric of the 1960's.
in other words, ceo pay cannot exceed 40 times that of the people that do the work.
The chamber of commerce members could get the republicans members to support the rise in taxes on those making more than 200,000 if single and 250,000 if married by just telling the republicans who they own to get with the program, but they will probably be too greedy to realize they would make more money to give to the republican they got them accept the deal so the economy could get over the indecision and know what is going to happen so all could plan on what course to take!!!
The mayor of New York has requested $1.9 billion in relief aid from the federal government to help recover from the destruction caused by superstorm Sandy.
I say that we cannot afford this. It must be turned over to the states. Texas has lots of money. They must be required to pay New York's cleanup costs.
Seeing the Chamber of Commerce is involved doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Here is our are of Northern CA the local Chamber of Commerce was so interested representing big money as in bankers, real estate etc that the local merchants had to form the Downtown Merchants Association to band together for real representation. It was a smashing success and forced the "Chamber of Commerce" to get with the picture as the negative publicity was strong. While the Chamber still doesn't represent small businesses well as sitting on their hands when a big box store comes to town and forces all of the small businesses out of the way we have their attention now.
I do not believe the national Chamber represents small businesses in any way shape or form. After they have proved perpetually that they only want Republicons to rule, why would the President meet with them. They do not respect Obama or the Office of President. They represent no one other then the large corporations and wealthy that provide them with huge sums to intimidate, repudiate, chastise and defame all that do not agree with them. I am a member of our local chamber and we have a policy of not getting involved in political campaigns. If the President even considers anything the Chamber wants, I will be one very mad and sad Democrat that donates. I am hoping that Obama does not sell us out again by catering to the Republicons. They hate him and us, they prefer that we all move out of the country so they can build their own country that caters to the supremely wealthy and corporations while the plebeians work for pennies.
They should change their name to the Fox Chamber of Commerce.
The US Chamber of Commerce is a crock of $h!t
They were one of the most visible barriers to bringing jobs back to America and offering tax breaks for companies to hire Americans
United States Chamber of Commerce to Help?
(It would be possible to add a new branch of government; you could close down the USSBA and add in the United States Chamber of Commerce (USCOC) who then could convert big businesses into small businesses, and even remove the confusing distinction used by the IRS.)
The solution has something to do with the economy, that in turn can only be affected by where we are spending or investing our money. With so called entitlements we know exactly where this money is going, But when we consider investing we know exactly nothing.
The Heritage Foundation, in 32 years has produce exactly nothing that can be said to have improved the economy, it is very much like all the United States Chamber of Commerce has done to help small business, exactly nothing.
When these two organizations point to their success which is to concentrate wealth and corporate power in the hands of fewer and fewer by twisting the republican legislators to do their bidding, they fail to see that the overall economy is in decline. The decline is seen in fact that average standard of living has declined during those same 32 years, which in turn means that the wage earner over lifetime cannot enough, save enough or invest enough to support the infirmities of old age. This means that the wealthy have gotten wealthier at the expense of everyone else who really needs an improving economy. Now after 32 years of delusion both of these organizations cannot see the truth before them, the economy can go in to complete ruin, while the wealthy collect the last dollar.
The solution has something to do with the economy, that in turn can only be affected by where we are spending or investing our money. With so called entitlements we know exactly where this money is going, But when we consider investing we know exactly nothing.
PS: The total lobbyist work force in Washington DC is 50,000, 11,500 as Lobbyists. Not quite 100/congress person
I used to think that the CofC was a benign organization of small businesses on mainstreet USA. Not any more. They are all about BIG BUSINESS versus everyone else, including small business. All of the small town businesses who are CofC members should stop paying their membership dues and get out now. The CofC is no longer benign, they are malignant.
Hopefully Tom Donohue was arrested for his criminal organizations anti American policies.
Why do traitors like him get face time with the President and Jill Stein who would have been a much better President end up arrested?
These bow-tie idiot leaders of the Chamber of Commerce should be fired for supporting and giving out millions to one party. They didn't call me when I was active in our small town with the Chamber of Commerce. These idiots destroy what could be an outstanding organization for all of America.