Carly Fiorina addresses Coronado crowd on global economics

Carly Fiorina speaks at the World Trade Center San Diego's International Business Leadership Awards Ceremony. (Photo by Don Kohlbauer)

Carly Fiorina sees the state of today’s global economy as a crucial period for California and American businesses to stay competitive.

The former Hewlett Packard CEO stressed the need for California and the U.S. to maintain a business edge as Wednesday’s keynote speaker at the International Business Leadership Awards held by the World Trade Center San Diego in Coronado.

Fiorina, who earlier Wednesday threw her hat in the ring for Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat, is now the CEO of Carly Fiorina Enterprises.

“American companies in general and California companies in particular face challenges that they have not faced in the past,” Fiorina said. “The twin forces of globalization and technology make competing in the world environment even tougher today than it has ever been.

“The burdens that government places on businesses can make an already tough competitive environment even tougher.”

She went on to say that U.S. companies pay some of the highest taxes in the industrial world, placing them at a significant disadvantage.

She focused how small businesses need to be encouraged, saying that they employ half the people in the United States.

Her views on keeping businesses in America instead of losing jobs to other countries include the need to encourage innovation and new thinking while revamping the tax structure.

“Our tax burden is too high,” she said. “It is too high on individuals, it is too high on businesses, and government has got to stop increasing taxes on capital and investments. And we need to simplify the tax code.”

She is a believer of free trade, but feels other countries have to give the access to their markets that they seek in the U.S. and while some countries need to live up to all of their obligations in NAFTA.

She pointed out the need to protect intellectual property in the U.S. and abroad, as well as the need for reforming regulatory mandates that date to the Depression, believing that reform would keep jobs here in California instead losing then to other countries.

Tags: barbara boxer, carly fiorina, International Business Leadership Awards, SDNN, u.s. senate, World Trade Center San Diego

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Business, Local News, Politics & Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.