Business executives, wary of America's mounting debt and looming fiscal crisis, are starting to make their feelings known to Congress and the president, according to the Wall Street Journal:
Executives have been meeting privately with lawmakers, urging them to start laying the groundwork now so they can reach an agreement after the November elections to avoid the large tax increases and heavy spending cuts scheduled to take effect in January. They worry those measures could tip the economy back into recession and create turmoil in financial markets, according to people who have attended some of the meetings. ...
The executives' efforts are nurtured, but not necessarily coordinated, by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-profit, bipartisan group urging deficit reduction which has brought chief executives to Washington to meet with lawmakers and urge them to act. ...
Adding urgency to the discussions are credit-rating firms, which could downgrade U.S. government debt in the absence of a significant accord. Standard & Poor's officials haverecently held private talks in Washington with think tanks and others to discuss how U.S. leaders might address the deficit after the elections, people familiar with the meetings said.
