On Friday leaders from both houses of Congress and the president are set to begin fiscal cliff negotiations, including taxes and governmental spending. Prior to meeting with a congressional delegation, the president is spending two days in talks with labor leaders business executives.
Yesterday and today's meetings are far from the first time the administration has courted influential individuals leading into their fiscal cliff negotiations.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, no stranger to the business world, has been lobbying business executives for support of the Obama plan for several months, according to Bloomberg.Geithner joined the US Treasury Department in 1988 in the International Affairs division and moved up to the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs in 1998. In 2002 he joined the Council on Foreign Relations and was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2003, so he enjoys familiarity with the New York financial sector.
As a product of the efforts of Geithner and other high ranking members of the Obama administration, Wall Street has become receptive to the idea of raising tax rates and cutting national spending.
The business leaders heading to the White House today will be key allies during negotiations with the Republican delegation. Generally speaking, large corporations and Wall Street are associated with the GOP rather than the Democrats. Taking their influence out of the negotiation places the Obama administration and the left at a significant advantage during the discussions.
Many high-profile CEOs excluded themselves from any debt ceiling discussion last year, but have learned that their presence in the discourse may prove significant. Many have entered the fiscal cliff negotiations via the Partnership for New York City, an organization engaging the business community to advance the economy of New York City.
CEOs across the country have started their own effort to address the national debt. The CEO council of the organization, called ‘Fix the Debt,’ publicly and privately supports a comprehensive debt deal. Fix the Debt is set to begin a $40 million national advertising campaign playing off familiar corporate campaigns to their national debt solutions.