GREGG SHERRILL
It's been a hard stretch for American businesses. With the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the near collapse of the world's financial system, a recession with stubbornly high unemployment, the travails of the auto industry, and the calamity of the BP oil spill, let's just say it's been quite a few years. And all of this has been amplified by shrill rhetoric, finger-pointing and blame games played out in ceaseless media coverage. Business, in the dual role that politicians try to fashion for it—providing funds to government, and all too often serving as a scapegoat—has taken a pounding on Capitol Hill and at the White House. For the most part, the business community has remained relatively silent. In my view, we simply have not tried hard enough to make our case.
The reaction is partially understandable. We were hit from several directions at once, and the financial crisis turned so quickly into a collapse of demand that our primary concern was just to survive and work our way out of the rubble. Our focus turned inward.
Because the financial crisis and resulting recession caused so much pain, a bashing of our entire free enterprise system may have been inevitable. My fear is that by remaining quiet in the face of this onslaught, we have allowed it to intensify. In fact, other than those companies that were a part of the system of easy credit and disguised risk that so spectacularly collapsed, American business as a whole has nothing whatsoever to apologize for.
The good news is that despite the political cacophony, and our silence, most Americans still instinctively understand this.
According to a recent analysis in The Economist magazine, the overwhelming majority of Americans say they prefer the free enterprise system to any collectivist alternative. In one such poll, as the Economist reports in a feature titled "The 70-30 Nation," the Pew Research Center asked respondents whether they were better off in a free market rather than a socialist economy "even though there may be severe ups and downs from time to time." Seventy percent said yes.
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Sherrill
David Gothard
Sherrill
Sherrill
So why are the 30% in charge of the 70%? According to American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks, the "game changer" was the economic crisis. As he writes in his book "The Battle," "the opportunity to expand the 30 percent coalition was not the Democratic sweep in 2008. It was the financial crisis of 2008-2009, which was used as a tool to attack the free enterprise system . . ."
Furthermore, Mr. Brooks argues that it's time to make "the moral case for free people and free markets." I couldn't agree more.
The free enterprise system, hard-wired into this country's DNA, has created more wealth and lifted more people out of poverty than any other system ever devised by human beings. For the entire history of our nation, people from all over the world have come here for the opportunity to succeed on their own merits.
It would be a profound mistake to grow government's size in a way that would fundamentally shift its level of involvement in our overall economy. Other countries have tried this strategy in various ways, especially over the last century. The results have often been negative, and at times disastrous. None has come close to the levels of growth and individual prosperity driven by the American free enterprise system.
The truth is that when it comes to the things that define our society like energy, mobility and shelter, government can do nothing without the cooperation of business and industry. Nor, for that matter, can business function in this fiercely competitive global marketplace without the appropriate regulation and incentives that government can provide.
Expanded trade, competitive tax policies, a coherent energy policy, a realistic regulatory approach—it is in these areas that our government can most effectively ensure that we maintain our pre-eminent position in the world. At its best, government is the guarantor of our freedom to create, to lead and to innovate.
Political attacks will only intensify in an election year, and they could result in serious economic damage. The danger is that people will buy into the false perception that government can fix our current crisis, which will lead to policies making our economic recovery more difficult. I think we all need to take a step back and put partisan politics aside. We need to work together to come up with solutions that reflect the input of many voices, including business.
My business is the automotive industry, and we've found ourselves for some time now at the center of much of the national debate, where science, technology, business, economics, politics and ideology all intersect. As an executive and an engineer, I take great satisfaction in the role our industry has played in building our society. We've helped give people everywhere an unprecedented measure of mobility. And by providing them with that mobility, we've helped to provide an unprecedented measure of freedom.
I'm proud to be part of an economic system that still offers the greatest opportunity for individual prosperity and quality of life. I believe my colleagues in all segments of American business and industry share that pride. It's time we find our voices and speak up. We have a powerful story to tell.
Mr. Sherrill is chairman and CEO of Tenneco Inc.
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