Neil Cavuto had some harsh criticism of President Obama during his end-of-show monologue on May 5.
The Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network anchor blasted Obama for creating villains of businesses and for presenting an inconsistent message that is keeping businesspeople “anxious.”
“I think every administration has its villains. Remember Ronald Reagan had the evil Soviet Empire. President Bush his own axis of evil. That was three countries there. This president – in a word: business. Alright, not all businesses but it seems most businesses, big business at least.”
Pointing to Obama’s May 4 call to change corporate taxation rules to prevent the use of tax havens, as well as the recent government involvement in Chrysler, Cavuto said: “Huge multinationals that hire workers abroad and get tax breaks here – they’re villains. Sick companies like Chrysler being pushed into a foreign automakers hands on taxpayers’ dime no less – they’re not villains.”
“So the president wants to limit U.S. companies’ ability to defer paying U.S. taxes on offshore earnings so they can grow and I guess remain viable, but wholeheartedly endorse spending billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars ceding effective control of a U.S. auto giant to an Italian concern on the slim, dare I say remote chance it can. No wonder so many business leaders are anxious,” Cavuto continued.
Cavuto pointed out that not all business leaders have done things wrong, so they shouldn’t be lumped in together and stereotyped. He also called Obama out for sending mixed messages:
“[I]t is very hard for companies to be saintly when they’re being lectured by a president who, no offense, prefers acting like [1]Sybil [a movie about a woman with multiple personality disorder]: blasting Wall Street one day, embracing it the next, vilifying CEOs one day, coddling them the next, ripping companies that dare look for tax breaks after paying billions, praising efforts to save losing ones even if it means spending billions more.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business representatives have criticized Obama’s plan for “tax reform,” which he announced May 4. They say changing the rules of taxation will cost businesses more money and make them less competitive globally.
"We're talking about American jobs at American companies and their ability to compete overseas," [2]John J. Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, told Associated Press.