Economic momentum is finally taking hold with 2014’s growth likely leaping to 3 percent from 2 percent in 2013, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue said today.
Improvements in the housing market, domestic energy production and exports are leading the upsurge, Donohue said in his annual report on the state of American business.
At the same time, he blamed misguided government policy for significant reductions in potential jobs and low wage growth in the slowest and weakest recovery since World War II.
Donohue said his biggest worry is that for the first time in U.S. history, America is taking from the young to support the old. He predicted entitlement reform wouldn’t be accomplished for a couple of years.
Donohue said a bright spot is that the massive influx of baby boomer retirees will lead to the growth of new industries.
On Dodd Frank Act rulemakings, Donohue expressed concern investments groups being treated like banks when they do things banks don’t do.
He called for regulators to balance legitimate investor protection and the ability of businesses to take risks.
In urging Congress to raise the debt ceiling before the February deadline, Donohue warned that default on federal government debt would be the end of the American financial system
Obamacare is not going to go away, so the Chamber will be looking for ways to help make it work, including an effort to lower costs by seeking to reduce the number of benefits mandated for health insurance plans, he said.
As the growing economic disparity becomes a more virulent political issue, the business group leader said the wealthy should not be blamed for the growing income gap in the country