Steve Pearlstein takes Off on CEOs

I was not happy when Steve Pearlstein joined the faculty at George Mason University and cut back his appearances in the Washington Post to once a week in the Sunday Business Section.  Fortunately we still have Ezra Klein.  This past Sunday, Pearlstein took on the nation’s CEOs in an open letter telling them they had no one to blame but themselves for our lousy economy.  It’s well worth wading past the Post’s website ads to read it and the comments on it.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/steven-pearlstein-blame-for-financial-mess-starts-with-the-corporate-lobby/2011/08/08/gIQA3zMlDJ_story.html

What I would add to the letter is the downbeat conclusion that CEOs have no reason to pay attention to him and no reason to make serious efforts to create jobs in this country.  They’re already fabulously rich and can get even richer faster by investing abroad rather than in the U.S.

I wouldn’t mind seeing some serious cuts in corporate income taxes, if there were comparable increases in personal income tax rates.  Maybe then some of that money would stay here and get reinvested.