WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Wall Street Journal's annual CEO Council meeting -- with more than 100 CEOs, leading policy makers and members of the U.S. Congress participating -- concluded today with the release of an action plan comprised of specific priorities that both government and business must address to ensure sustainable global prosperity.
The 2009 CEO Council members worked together in task force sessions charged with identifying and ranking the most urgent priorities. Leading subject-matter experts provided key perspectives and information for the discussion, which focused on four key topics: The Economy and Finance, Healthcare, Energy and the Environment, and An Educated Workforce.
The 20 priorities set -- ranked in order -- include:
1) SUSTAINABLE JOB CREATION: Government should focus on policies that stimulate sustainable job growth by identifying national competitive strengths, encouraging innovation, reforming tax policy, and avoiding regulatory disincentives. Policies should emphasize small and medium-sized enterprises and ensure flow of credit to business. Government should avoid short term efforts to create jobs that are unsustainable.
2) EDUCATION IS A TOP PRIORITY: Education is our top national priority -- well ahead of healthcare, climate change and financial regulatory reform -- and government and business policy need to reflect that. If we don't address this, we endanger our children, economy, businesses and national security.
3) TAX REFORM: Change tax code, in revenue neutral fashion, to encourage savings and investment and discourage consumption and debt over the long term.
4) DIVERSIFY U.S. ENERGY SUPPLY: The U.S. should encourage all domestic energy supplies, including coal, expanded access to conventional and unconventional oil and gas, nuclear power, and all renewables. Government shouldn't pick winners; let markets decide.
5) REFORM MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: Cap awards. Cap legal fees. Create health courts.
6) ENACT GLOBAL TRADE PACT: Sign and ratify by end of 2010 a global free-trade agreement with all willing countries to encourage greater world growth.
7) REFORM HEALTH PAYMENT SYSTEM: Move away from fee-for-service and toward bundled payments for the full cycle of health care. Pay higher rates for sicker patients. Tie payments to outcomes.
8) BUILD GREATER CERTAINTY: Reduce uncertainty for consumers and businesses over energy, tax, health, and other policies to encourage hiring and capital-investment. Articulate clear objectives. Enhance global cooperation through G20 leadership. Strengthen the American retirement system. Make sure there is credit available for growth.
9) MEASURE HEALTH OUTCOMES: Require doctors and hospitals to publicly report patient outcomes based on national standards. Link payments to risk-adjusted outcomes. Use electronic medical records for measurement.
10) PROMOTE ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Establish a holistic approach, supported by business that produces energy efficiencies, from production to consumption. Policies should include tax credits, altered building codes and performance standards. Change utility regulatory structure so utilities can recover cost of efficiency investments. Educate consumers about how to use energy more efficiently.
11) HOLD PATIENTS ACCOUNTABLE: Employers and insurers should reward healthy behaviors and penalize unhealthy behaviors. Employers should prohibit smoking among their employees and provide unlimited cessation help.
12) REWARD EFFECTIVE TEACHING: Government should devise, with the school districts and unions, a transparent method of recognizing and financially rewarding good teaching. Teachers deemed ineffective should be denied tenure and removed.
13) BRING BACK WINNING SPIRIT IN U.S.: Annunciate a vision for U.S. economy. Encourage entrepreneurship. Be blunt about U.S. competitive strengths and weakness. Remove the risk of protectionism. Reduce uncertainty. Don't demonize success or over-penalize failure. Avoid divisiveness in government and business rhetoric. Promote the American Dream of social mobility.
14) PROMOTE INTEGRATED CARE: Change regulations to allow doctors and hospitals to work together. Remove obstacles such as the Stark laws and corporate practice of medicine laws.
15) FEDERAL PLAN FOR ELECTRIC GRID: Congress should enact federal authority to deploy a more efficient electric grid that enables the diversification of U.S. energy supplies, gives federal government more authority to site transmission lines through eminent domain and gives FERC the power to allocate costs.
16) WORLD-CLASS TEACHER CORPS: Attract and retain the best and the brightest to be our teachers. We need a world-class teacher corps in the public schools with top credentials. We need to increase the stature of teachers, which isn't possible without addressing the issue of pay.
17) DIVERSIFY TRANSPORT SYSTEMS: In its tax, regulatory, and investment policies, the government should stimulate transportation systems consistent with the broad goals of diversifying energy sources and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
18) MOBILIZE PARENTS FOR CHANGE: Educate parents about the consequences of the dire state of the education system for their children's future. Mobilize them to invest their time in their children and in the system. Parents and the school system should have real-time data and insight into their child's progress against standards and their global peers, to allow parents to intervene quickly.
19) CAP-AND-TRADE BILL: Instead of EPA regulating greenhouse-gas emissions, Congress should set a cap on carbon emissions that protects the U.S. economy. The cap should recognize that most energy will continue to come from fossil fuels. U.S. should not act alone on global warming. There should be a trigger requiring a global framework.
20) COUNCIL FOR EDUCATED WORKFORCE: Create a national council for an educated workforce comprised of the secretaries of education, labor and commerce, to coordinate government activity with business to put the U.S. in the top five countries in the world for education.
Opening the Journal's CEO Council meeting last night was Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff for President Barack Obama, in an interview with the Journal's Gerald Seib, followed by a panel discussion on the future of capitalism with Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer, News Corporation; Carlos Slim Helu, lifetime honorary chairman, Telefonos de Mexico; and Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Sons Limited.
To conclude the CEO Council meeting, Peter R. Orszag, director, Office of Management and Budget, The White House and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff, The Pentagon will be interviewed.
The results of the 2009 CEO Council meeting will be published in a Journal Report to be published on Nov. 23. For more information and a list of participants at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council, please visit https://ceocouncil.wsj.com.
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