Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Obama Stimulus

Google CEO Eric Schmidt speaks out on $800 billion U.S. Economic Stimulus

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt joined 12 other executives including IBM Chief Sam Palmisano in a White House meeting Wednesday to discuss the economic stimulus plan proposed by President Barack Obama.

Schmidt called on the President and Congress to get a stimulus plan passed quickly, citing concerns that the economy will worsen before it improves. “We did not talk specifically about tax cuts… we mostly talked about stimulus… we told him [President Obama] that perfect is the enemy of the good. [And] the stimulus package needs to happen quickly because things are not getting better they may be getting significantly worse.”

Schmidt also said “the government needs to act, and needs to act quickly to get people… to get enough confidence… The solution to the concerns over deficit spending are to create jobs, create industries create profits again which is done by the private sector…”

The House of Representatives met Wednesday night and approved their version of the proposed US fiscal stimulus with overwhelming Democratic support but in an early setback for Barack Obama, not a single Republican backed the $825 billion bailout plan.

“First, there’s no perfect bill… From our perspective there’s a significant investment in renewable energy, there’s a very significant investment in Internet and broadband which benefits Google and significant increases in science which benefits America and American leadership in technology… It’s better to have something now and get it done.”

When asked about tax cuts, Schmidt mentioned, “I think it’s a bad idea to raise taxes on anyone no matter who they are. This is not a good time to be raising taxes on anybody. We can deal with the tax question later.”

Google reported positive earnings last week despite an increasingly difficult economic environment. Revenues of $5.70 billion for the quarter ending December 31, 2008 was good news as well as an increase of 18% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 and an increase of 3% compared to the third quarter of 2008. Schmidt said, “It’s unclear how long the global downturn will last, but our focus remains on the long term, and we’ll continue to invest in Google’s core search and ads business as well as in strategic growth areas such as display, mobile, and enterprise.”

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