Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Saturday, May 21st, 2011

CEO Confidence Index Tumbles in Wake of Japan Crisis and Mid-East Turmoil

Author:    
Source:     ChiefExecutive.net
Publication Date:     April 30 2011
 Link: CEO Confidence Index Tumbles in Wake of Japan Crisis and Mid-East Turmoil
Stephan:   This is the collective view of the corporate barons. There are several things that caught my attention: they want to get rid of even the feeble regulatory oversight we presently have; and and they speak of the Fukishima crisis almost as if it were an act of nature, not the corporate cockup it so obviously is. As was the Gulf, and both for the same reason: profit overrode safety consideration, and stifled technological innovation. Note also the CEOs aren't planning on hiring many people. The virtual corporate states are not geographically anchored anymore. Profit is the only issue, and it is trans-national. If 5000 non-Americans cost a third of 5,000 Americans, even if it means devastating entire communities, they unhesitatingly move the plant to the cheaper workers. Under the profit priority paradigm to do otherwise would be a failure of competency. Only when we put the earth and all living beings first, will we construct a viable way through the perfect storm of transition that is coming. Thanks to Steve Hovland.

Chief Executive’s CEO Confidence Index, the nation’s leading gauge of CEOs’ outlook on business conditions, tumbled to 6.02 out of a possible 10 in March. This is a 5.8% drop from the previous month, setting a new low for 2011. Though the Index is still higher than at any point from 2008 through 2010, this most recent dip shows the fragility of the ongoing economic recovery.

Recent international events have had a substantial impact both on how CEOs view the current business climate and on their optimism over the coming year. Of the CEOs surveyed, 66% rate their expectations for overall business conditions as ‘good’ or better, down from 70% a month earlier. Respondents rated current overall business conditions at 5.14, down 7.2% from February.

Uncertainty was apparently the driving factor for the decrease in optimism for business conditions. The Japanese earthquake and its radioactive aftermath, in combination with political unrest in the Middle East, have caused many CEOs to be apprehensive.

‘We are very concerned about the ‘invisible’ tax increase we are expecting as a result of increasing oil prices,

Read the Full Article