CEOs’ Top Demands for Obama: Fix the Economy, Education

Erin White reports on the CEO Council. The 100 CEOs gathered at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council had a clear – and unsurprising – top demand for President-elect Barack Obama : Fix the economy. Fixing the country’s schools came a close second. The CEOs gathered in Washington, D.C., to discuss top priorities for the incoming Obama administration. They split into groups covering four areas: finance and the U.S. economy; energy and the environment; America in the global economy; and health care. By this evening, they developed a list of 18 priorities. The top priority: Lead an internationally coordinated stimulus plan to revive the economy. On a scale of one to nine, CEOs gave this an average of 7.1. Education ranked second. They recommended that Obama ask businesses to “lead in the actions necessary to build a competitive workforce,” among other steps to bolster education. Earlier inj the day, the CEOs had bemoaned the state of American public education, particularly in math and ... (link)