There’s going to be a new sheriff in town, or as one businessman put it, “We now have to plan for the big fist in the sky.” Doug Oberman, CEO of Caterpillar and chairman of the big-businessmen-only Business Roundtable told his members, “Some of us may bear our turn in the bullseye.” And some already have. Donald Trump turned what Theodore Roosevelt called “the bully pulpit”—the platform provided by the presidency—into a bully’s pulpit and accused Boeing of “doing a little bit of a number” and overcharging for the next generation of Air Force One. So, “Cancel order.” Within minutes, almost $1 trillion was knocked off the market value of the aircraft maker as investors rushed to dump the stock, which has since bounced back. Never mind that no final cost estimates have been made or contracts signed, or specifications agreed for an aircraft that must be able to operate after a nuclear attack. “That’s what I’m here for. To negotiate prices,” Trump announced to industry leaders who until now have seen his election as an unmitigated blessing.
And why not? Corporate taxes to be slashed. A special low-tax deal on repatriated earnings. Share prices leaping from record to record. With the exception of the very richest, executives can expect reductions in personal taxes. No more inheritance taxes. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive.
