In the annual State of American Business address on Tuesday, Jan. 11, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue said he expects the economy to grow by 3.2 percent this year and “pick up steam as the year progresses.”
There is widespread support among lawmakers and the business community for R&D, infrastructure rebuilding, and a revitalization of education—the problem, Donahue says, is that nobody wants to pay for it.
The powerful business leader suggests that hundreds of billions of dollars in private capital could be leveraged if the government showed a commitment to rebuild and expand roads, bridges, rail, air transport, broadband capacity, water infrastructure, and power generation.
He cited regulatory, financial, and legal issues as barriers to investment.
Working on multiple fronts, Donahue announced a new project, headed by former Postmaster General of the United States Jack Potter, to open up global supply chains and logistics for American companies.
Thomas Donahue’s actual quote:
In order to expand trade and move people, goods, information, and money throughout the country and around the world, we must focus new attention on America’s global supply chain. We need to connect our entire economy in a seamless 21st century system of superior transportation, high speed information and communications technology, and modern seaports, airports and border crossings.
And so we have just engaged Jack Potter, the former Postmaster General of the United States, to lead an important new project for us. He will consult with the leading supply chain firms and experts worldwide and help us rally the business community around a plan to improve, maintain, secure, and advocate for a 21st century global supply chain and logistics system.
“We need to connect our entire economy in a seamless 21st century system of superior transportation, high speed information, and communication technology, and modern seaports, airports, and border crossings,” he said.