McDonald's Chief Exec says US must cut taxes and cut government spending

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11/7/11, "McDonald's Chief Exec Says US Must Cut Taxes," Sky News, J. Randall

"America must cut taxes and reduce Government spending in order to kick-start a recovery, McDonald's chief executive Jim Skinner has told Sky News.

In a rare television interview, he told me: "The question is, how can we get the ox out of the ditch?

"In order to create jobs in America, you're going to have to do something with the tax… You have to cut taxes… particularly in the business community.

"We pay some of the highest [corporate] taxes around the world… There needs to be some levelling."

Asked about federal borrowing, he said: "It's not a good story that's for sure…

• The Government has to spend less.

"We have to grow the economy, grow the GDP… And you have to be able to do it in an organic way and not through borrowings and increasing debt."

McDonald's army of blue-collar customers need more clarity on core issues, such as healthcare, he said.

"Until all of that is all defined and certain we're going to continue to have a fragile environment for consumer confidence."

Mr Skinner's intervention will be seized upon by President Barack Obama's opponents in Washington amid a fierce debate over

• the country's deteriorating finances and high unemployment.

As Democrats and Republicans fire up their 2012 election campaigns, the focus is on the "9% nightmare", with both the US budget deficit and jobless total at that level.

Federal government debt has climbed to $15trn (£9.35trn),

• about the same as annual GDP.

Worse still, America's credit rating was recently downgraded by Standard & Poor's....

As leader of a remarkable turnaround at McDonald's, his comments will resonate across America.

His company is one of only a few big US employers still hiring in significant numbers, with more than 500,000 on its domestic payroll.

A quietly spoken man from a small town in Iowa, Mr Skinner joined the company as a trainee store manager 40 years ago and worked his way up to become the boss in 2004.

He was named America's CEO of the Year in 2009.

Mr Skinner inherited a traumatised McDonald's.

After its first-ever quarterly loss in 2002, the share price had tanked, lawyers were threatening to "sue the hell" out of the business for its alleged role in America's obesity epidemic, and the brand had come last in a survey of customer satisfaction, lower even than the tax man.

His approach has been uncomplicated: get rid of peripheral businesses, such as Pret A Manger, which distracted management from core operations; concentrate instead on improving the food, decor and service in existing stores rather than opening new ones.

The result is that McDonald's has just delivered 100 consecutive months of same-store sales growth.

It is ranked number one in the Dow Jones Industrial Average for total shareholder return over the past five years, with the share price rising from $12 in 2003 to $93 today.

Mr Skinner will never be admired by America's vocal health lobby - it accuses McDonald's of targeting children - but, for now, he is the darling of investors."

via Free Republic