The Perfect Speech to Business Roundtable CEOs

The Business Roundtable held its CEO quarterly meeting on Thursday, June 13, 2024, and invited the presumptive presidential nominees of both major political parties to address its members. Former president Donald Trump accepted. Due to his commitment to attend the G7 meeting, President Joe Biden declined, with White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients appearing in his place. Below is the stellar speech President Biden would have given had he attended and someone sensible had written it. 

Greetings to you all. I am happy to be able to address this Business Roundtable and you, the CEOs who lead some of the most powerful corporations in the world. 

I know you’re expecting me to make a bid, to tell you why you should vote for me for another term for president. That should be easy to do since you’ve made record profits under my administration. But before I get to that, let me make a few background remarks that will provide context for my bid, a bid that may surprise you.

Now, as you know, Business Roundtable represents 200 CEOs whose companies, together, provide a quarter of all American jobs and nearly a quarter of the U.S. GDP. That’s heft. I know it feels good, being so big, so powerful. But heft like that comes with responsibility, enormous responsibility, and I’m not talking about to your shareholders. I’m talking about to your stakeholders, your customers, the citizens of this country, the communities that form the bedrock on which your businesses prosper. This Business Roundtable mentioned those stakeholders in a statement of commitment signed by 181 members. It was 2019, if I remember correctly. You may have forgotten. I’m here to help you remember.

As I said, your companies have done very well under my administration. And why? Because the American government is stable and prosperous. And why is that? Because it has both earned and requites the trust of its citizens, citizens who believe their government respects the rule of law, has a fair and impartial justice system, and conducts its elections honestly and efficiently. The trust of those citizens is what made this country the home where companies like yours could become the most powerful corporations in the world.

In his bid for president, I heard my competitor offered you a tax cut, another one. In 2017, he cut corporate taxes from 35% to 21%. That was great for you, but he said it would be great for your stakeholders, too. He promised household income would rise by $4,000. You will pardon me if I quote from a study by economists from the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Federal Reserve Board: It didn’t happen. We also know those tax cuts did not result in increased wages or benefits for your workers. And we happen to know you did not use them to invest in your company’s infrastructure or R&D despite your highly publicized 2019 pledge, as Darren Walker phrased it and I quote: “It is more critical than ever that businesses in the 21st century are focused on generating long-term value for all stakeholders and addressing the challenges we face, which will result in shared prosperity and sustainability for both business and society.” Good words, indeed. Deeds did not follow.

I’m a business man. I understand you have budgets. But if you’re gunning for another tax cut and for any president who will give it to you at a time when your revenues and profits are at record highs, I have to think something’s wrong. I have to wonder what you’re doing with all that money. But we know what you did with it. We have information that in the first year after the 2017 tax cut went into effect, you spent $1 trillion in stock buybacks. That is to say, you absorbed the money into your already sizable personal fortunes. Correct me if I’m wrong. And we also know top executive salaries and bonus packages skyrocketed. You must have noticed that.

Yes, each of you has a budget. I, too, have a budget. Let’s take a look at what I’ve got to manage with mine: Make sure the country is safe and in good working order. Keep the roads that your businesses require in good repair. See to it that the harbors, bridges, and airways your businesses rely on operate safely and efficiently. Manage agencies that guarantee your products are safe and effective for your consumers — protecting your reputation. Regulate trade so your products get a fair shake on the free market. 

And I do all that — for you. But forgive me if I digress for a moment to mention the 335 million stakeholders I’m also responsible for. That’s every citizen in the country who expects and deserves the opportunity and means to lead a safe, healthy, fully realized life. To fulfill those expectations, I must make sure they have access to good schools to get a solid education and that they find steady, well-paying jobs afterwards. With the money they earn, they deserve to expect to be able to afford a home for their family. They deserve to expect affordable healthcare throughout their life and support if they need it in their old age. What’s more, they deserve to expect their children have access to those opportunities to achieve the same. 

That’s getting harder for me to do. All these tax cuts — 2001, 2003, 2017 —have severely diminished our country’s revenue. A direct result of the latest tax cut was a decrease in federal corporate tax receipts from an annualized level of $409 billion in the first quarter of 2017 to $269 billion in the first quarter of 2018. Tax revenues for 2018 and 2019 fell more than $430 billion short of what the budget office of my predecessor predicted they would be in June 2017, before the tax law was approved. On my current budget I cannot run the country — nobody could — and take care of our stakeholders.

Let me make one final point: While you may be focused on shareholder returns, a country’s wealth is not reflected in corporate profits alone. That may be one indication of economic vigor, but it leaves the most important factor out of the equation: the prosperity of the average American citizen. The wealth of our nation is also reflected in their standard of living, their level of education, the quality of their homes, their health, the health of their children, their life expectancy. We’re at the bottom of the scale for some of those indicators. Did you know that? In order to fulfill the expectations of our stakeholders – mine and yours – and get this nation in the lead again on all aspects of quality of life, I must fund it. And I will. What’s more, you, the richest companies in the world, are going to help.

If elected president again, I am not going to make you richer. You are rich enough. If elected president again, I am not going to cut your taxes. Instead, I promise to attend to those stakeholders you committed yourselves to in 2019. Jamie, you said at the time the American dream is alive, but fraying. You said that.¹ Well, I’m here to make it whole again. To do that, I will claim the revenues we need to reestablish our country as a land of realistic optimism with shared prosperity for all. Of course, my administration will be ready to give you tax breaks when you invest that money in your company, your workers, R&D, the resources we as a nation need in order to maintain a strong, stable economy. So be reassured rather than dismayed: As president, I guarantee we will have the budget to preserve this country’s bedrock — its people — and in doing so, ensure that your businesses operate profitably for generations to come.

Thank you.

---

1. “The American dream is alive, but fraying.” Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Chairman of Business Roundtable, August 19, 2019, https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans. ↩︎