Buckley: Obama "Robin Hood-esque ... anti-business"
3M chief warns Obama over business regulation
Excerpt:
“I judge people by their feet, not their mouth,” he told the Financial Times. “We know what his instincts are – they are Robin Hood-esque. He is anti-business.”
Comment: Full article is very good
Star Tribune coverage: 3M’s CEO says Obama is driving firms away:
ReplyDelete3M Co. CEO George Buckley said in an interview with the Financial Times that President Obama's "anti-business" attitudes could have manufacturers shifting production out of the U.S. to Canada or Mexico.
"We know what his instincts are -- they are Robin Hood-esque," he told the newspaper.
Buckley said companies could shift operations out of the U.S. as a result.
About two-thirds of the Maplewood giant's $26.7 billion in sales last year came from outside the U.S. In its most recent annual report, the company said it has 76 manufacturing operations in 28 states and about 115 in 38 foreign countries.
It isn't the first time Buckley has said public policy could spur 3M to expand overseas instead of in the United States. In a speech to business leaders last year at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Buckley emphasized that elected officials need to cut corporate taxes, adding that combined federal and state corporate taxes in Minnesota are among the highest in the world.
"If I have a chance to invest in a factory in Ireland at zero [corporate taxes], or a factory in Korea at 15 percent, or a factory in Singapore at zero, or a factory in Germany at 25, why would I want to invest in Minnesota or the United States?" Buckley said in an interview after his St. Thomas speech.