State of U.S. businesses is ‘optimistic’ despite naysaying sniping in election year

The state of American business is “optimistic” despite inflationary pressures and economic threats from unknowable outside factors, the nation’s top business lobbyist said Thursday.

Suzanne P. Clark, U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, declared her 2024 mission to be a beacon of optimism among waves of pessimism by naysayers.

“Bad news sells and negative campaigning works. They feed this constant loop of pessimism. And if the business community isn’t out there telling the real story—the American story—of opportunity and progress in this country, then no one should be surprised when people believe it’s as bad as the headlines and the political ads say it is,” Clark said.

“Does America have challenges? You bet we do,” Clark said. “Are we, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pessimistic about it? Not on your life. In fact, we are optimistic.”

Clark said technological leaps have more than made up for the national mood of pessimism in an election year. She cited the more than 5 million new small businesses created in the past year.

In her annual “State of American Business” speech, Clark said this country, its citizens and leaders and our partners around the world need to hear the success stories.

“All of us here at the U.S. Chamber need to counterprogram against that pessimism,” Clark said. “We need to get louder to drown out the negativity. We’ve stopped talking about what it means to be pro-business as a country. That’s a problem—and it’s a shame. There are plenty of critics who want to tell you everything that is wrong with capitalism.”

  Here’s what businesses add—“They build the operating models to scale the work and generate widespread value; they raise the capital to invest in ideas and turn them into innovations; they create supply chains to source materials and reach customers; they manage the resources, systems, and networks needed to solve complex problems; above all, they make sure everyone in the long chain of bringing an idea to market gets rewarded for their contributions through payments, salaries, wages, health benefits, retirement savings and more,” Clark said.

  A few years ago at this same State of American Business event, Clark quoted a former business school professor who used to say, “The market is not your mama. It’s not going to love you just because you exist.”

“You have to earn your place in the markets by fulfilling a need or solving a problem—and keep your place in the markets by continually delivering what people want and will pay for and adapting and innovating when their demands change,” Clark warned.

Clark, a former top executive at the American Trucking Associations prior to her Chamber career, could have been talking about the brutal markets of transport and logistics when she admitted they were ultracompetitive.

“The cynic sees it as a zero-sum-game—they’re wrong,” Clark said. “An optimist rightly sees competition as a creative force. Failure leads to learning—and is often a prerequisite for success.

“Winners take their profits and find new problems to solve. Competitors learn from others’ success and drive continued advancement. And what about the bad actors whose aim is to exploit? Those who seek to gain without giving in return? Markets reject them,” she added.

But markets are also collaborative, Clark said, citing smooth-working, worldwide logistics supply chains as examples.

“They enable people across a supply chain who’ve never even met to integrate and innovate remarkably complex products that no single person or company could make alone,” she said.

And markets are dynamic, she emphasized. “If you look at the top 10 companies by market capitalization, you’ll see that not one of the companies on the list 30 years ago is still on that list today. If you look at the list over time, you see companies move in, up, out, back in and so on.”

That is certainly true in trucking where just three companies out of the top 50 trucking companies from 1980—the last year of motor carrier economic regulation—remain there today.

“Add it all up, and the biggest winners are all of us. Our families, our communities, our country and our world,” Clark declared.

And Clark said smoothly operating supply chains—battle tested from the Covid outbreak just four years ago—are to be credited with the dizzying array of goods on nearly every company’s store or web site.

“People have more choices than they’ve ever had, whether it’s for breakfast cereal, sneakers or career paths,” she said. “We can reach more places in the world, more efficiently and affordably. The cars, planes and trains that get us there are safer than they’ve ever been. More diseases have cures and treatments—most of us will live to know our grandchildren.”

Today nearly all consumers, regardless of income level, are able to buy essentially the same things that meaningfully improve life: dishwashers, washing machines, cars, smartphones.

“If that sounds quaint, look back 60 years ago when, for example, barely a third of American households had air conditioning,” Clark said.

Free enterprise has made life simpler and better for everyone by “scaling technologies, expanding choice, driving down prices and boosting every American’s buying power,” she added.

However, all this is threatened by a global trend of protectionism—including here in the U.S.—that puts all of this at risk.

“To turn inward—to throw up trade barriers, impose tariffs, stop doing trade deals, reactively repatriate supply chains—is to inflict harm on our own economy,” Clark warned. “It robs our businesses and workers of new opportunities, and it raises prices for every American.”

Like the free markets, Clark said the global economy is not a zero-sum game. “Someone else doesn’t have to lose for us to win. On the contrary—the rise of the rest means new customers, new markets and new allies, for us,” she predicted.

In summary, Clark said the world needs free enterprise:

•         To revitalize communities that were left behind in the modern economy;
•         To rethink education in this country so every person has every opportunity to do and be and give their best;
•         To reskill and reposition the workforce for the future, so all people can keep up with the rapid pace of change;
•         To responsibly leverage AI and unleash a new era of human productivity;
•         To address climate change and lead the energy transition while powering our economies today; and
•         To solve global problems, from food insecurity to water scarcity. 

“That’s just naming a few of the challenges that require American innovation backed up by American values,” Clark concluded. “If we don’t lead these solutions, we’ll be weaker in the long run. And if we don’t lead, who will?”