Takeaways from the Iowa Caucus Consortium CEO Roundtable
JOE GARDYASZ Jan 27, 2016 | 8:55 pm
3 min read time
699 wordsBusiness Record Insider, Economic DevelopmentHow will the outcome of the Iowa caucuses and the presidential election affect businesses in Iowa? With the caucuses now less than a week away, four key CEOs voiced their opinions Wednesday morning on a variety of issues affecting Greater Des Moines businesses and the broader economy.
The panelists at the breakfast forum held at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden included Fred Buie, president of Keystone Electrical Manufacturing Co.; Dan Houston, president and CEO of Principal Financial Group Inc.; Bob Ritz, president of Mercy Medical Center – Des Moines; and Paul Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer. Moderating the panel was Gerry Neugent, president and CEO of Knapp Properties Inc.
Availability of an educated and talented workforce for their companies was among the issues that each CEO identified as important at the outset of the forum.
Here are some takeaways from specific issues the CEOs were asked about:
Implementation of the Affordable Care Act:
Ritz said though the act has resulted in anywhere from 6 million to 17 million additional covered individuals, health systems are profoundly affected by more cost shifting between publicly and privately insured people. The health law, which has been changed 51 times since enactment, has also has resulted in fewer people interested in getting into the medical field as a career. Overall, health care reform is “a good thing for us; it’s a challenge for us, and we need to continue to find a way to make it better.”
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement:
Congress is currently considering whether to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, a 12-nation deal the Obama administration says would boost U.S. economic growth and provide more opportunities for middle-class families.
Schickler said: “We’re very supportive of TPP,” noting that since the North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted in 1994, trade with Mexico has increased by 36 percent. With global population increasing by 2 billion in the next two to three decades and 3 billion additional people expected to move into the middle class in that time, demand for goods coming from the U.S. will increase significantly, particularly from the Pacific Rim.
Houston: Forty million people in the U.S. are directly affected by global trade, and 170,000 jobs are affected by international trade. “You can do this (trade pacts) on a very isolated basis, but over time it will crush you. I think we’re only 15 to 20 years away from losing our advantage (in trade without the TPP).”
The national debt:
The U.S. national debt, or the amount owed by the U.S. government in public debt, stands at an estimated $18 trillion. The CEOs were asked their views of the dangers of the debt.
Buie: “Having purchased the company through a leveraged buyout, I have a strong appreciation for debt,” he quipped. “What I would expect to see from the next administration is, control your costs but grow the economy. … We hear a lot about tax cuts and big spending increases, but I don’t see how we can do that.”
Houston said the $18 trillion national debt is nearly as much as the sum of all retirement plan assets that have been accumulated and not yet tapped — $22 trillion. “The math doesn’t work; the numbers aren’t sustainable,” he said of the debt. “So we’ve got to wean ourselves off that debt.”
Ritz: From the health care perspective, the U.S. spends $3 trillion annually in health care in comparison to the $18 trillion national debt. So all health care for six years could be paid for with the amount of the national debt, he noted. “There is a silent, paralyzing impact of not dealing with this issue,” he said.
Immigration:
Buie: “About 40 percent of my workforce are immigrants; with growth we have yet to experience a hiring crunch because we’ve been able to find people through employee referrals,” he said. “I think we should fix the pieces that are broken, but the pieces of the system that work, let them work.”
Ritz: “The health industry relies on physicians who come from foreign soil. It’s incredibly important for us to continue to have responsible, balanced immigration policies. We’re concerned they will take a too broad-brushed approach to reform.”
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