fios. a network ahead. >> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. >> thanks for joining us forr a look at business and finance in the washingtton region. this week we're going tto start the show with something so popular with our viewers we usually save it for dessert. ththe roud tabble. it was a busy week for anyone following business and the economy in the washington regionon. we called in the a-team for the full show. some of the topics the business imact of kwamme brwn's resignation. fighting words from the president on the ecooy. funding for the silver line but at a price for big labor and

lolosing eexxon but keeping the redskins and montgomery count for bbeig the best tis business. jning us today peter moici, economics professor at the iversity of maryland smith school of bbusiness. jidinegar from the washngton board oof trade and jenniifer nycz-conner from the "waington business ouurnal". welcome all. whata week itt a been. jijim diinegar i'll sart with y. not good news foror the disrict wh you are trying to impress businesses far and wwide with how much of a eading cty you are when you have to have the chairman of the city council resign. what was tthe ke-out fromm the business community? >> thi is unprecedented iinthe history of the districof columbia to have the counciof the chair resign. make no mistake about it there are eal ripple effects. it's the specter of doing business in the district of columbia. like the troubles in pprince george's cunty that are being

cleaned uup. it is not good for the district of columbia. now there is more uncertnty about being able to do business correctlyly n the disstrict. at willingger for quite some time as everyby els waits to o see what nex. >> jennifer, what happenned? kwame rown ws emphaat he wasn't going anywhere. he was icking fighhts with te mayor over econoic developmenen just a few daysaggo. and now inamously gave a little shove to our colleague mark when he aske him about the problemhe was facing and suddenly resigned. what happened? >> a lot of attention to the down at the wilsn building. they can't figure out what is going on. the specter goes farand ide over everybody that works there. it is strange situation. bank frauand not a big amount of money. >> a lot of voters scratching their heads saying lying about your income for a boat loan you'll still have tto pay back no matter how bullet proof the

boat may bbe. peterer mmorrici, , the specula beg widely discussed far aand wide in the business community, many people e think this is jus the t tipp of the iceberg that there is stillall of that unaccounteted for campaign mone that investigators are looking at like wame brown. >> it indicaates how difficult the prosecutors are having in investigating xactly what this guy as done and getting the goods on him with a shadow hanging over the council, and so many of them being investigated it raises uestions for district residents whether they'll be able to get to the bottom of the things. the next one they'll goingg to get to esign because he got in line in the expressss check-out lane with 13 ittems insteadad . >> come on, jjimm. thehese were some serious thing being invevestigated and still are.e. kwame brwn is vey pular with he business communitity bu everyone had a lo of douubt as to whetether r he should stay i office once all of these things

started not just trickling ouou but coming out. >> his departurwas swif and ow iit's s moving behind us and move on with repairs. get a n chairman and more. >> can we move n? there are so maany questionss about the mayor and council members uner investigation. just the perception of thcity is so week rght now will it be difficult to attract investors? >> the big issue aside frm the inestigations is not gandy being renominat for the diststrict and in many respect is the only dult leadership going on in the districtf columbia.a. he needs to berenominated and puin asthhe cfo to quell off the nise from all sstreet. we need things to settle down. is periodod of uncertainty is bad for business. it bad for he residents of the district of colbia. frankly, the resesides of the distict eserve a lobetr than the way they've b been served. >>ot jus th resident of the stricts. as goees the district and our

region. it's what makes headlines in national news. >> i would't say that. the technology corrridors in montgomery coun and fairfax county aare what the pulling th region now. the district t has be a national joke fofor a long tme. ihasnn't had very goo governmentor a lonng tiime. we're the richest j jurisdicti in the country. rundown schools, potholes and all the rest. >> i waas a proddistrict resident for 20 yars, just moved into montggomery ccounty. my husband still lives n the ditrictct to great public hools in the districts. a lot of peopplee see potenti in vincent grray. >> th's a fair assessment. the district of columbia certainy turned the coner a number of years ago and really on the uppswwing. now e'r misssing out on opportunities we're missing out on oprtunities to beat philadelelphia and cleveland an new york, to eat boston these aar our competititors in certain respes. >> i would sugest yoour

commpetititors are farax county. those jurisdictions s run betr. one oof the probblems. i thinkpeoplleould't ind fairfax on aa mapif you circed it outde thi region. to them it's still district of columbia. >> that givs us -- we need to turn to another ttoic. let's talk about fairfax counun. they've een a leading job creator iin or region but lst bigig thhis week, jim ddinnegar losing 2100 jobs with exxon pulling out. what doeoes it meaan for the comonalth >> exxonwass aremarkable corporate cittizen around thi region. we're sad to see them leave. it willl be a couple yeas down the roadd but that capus, that self-contained good security levevel campus lendss itself t being filled instead of with 2100 empployees, 6,000 employee. it coould be ral economicic engine for this region. > they claim they'll fill it quickly, fairfax ounty. i don't see it happening in this economy. >> just in recent years think of ow mmany have come to

fairirfax?? you've had a number of big companies. that's exactly the thing that you'll see more attractiion to going into something like that.. >> companies willcome but the big campuses aren't the attraractions they once were. companies aren't looking to build temples andpyramids for r theirir employees. i don't know if they'll easily use the space. it doesn't meanthey ar't ttracting people. >> et's not limimit itt to companies. the f.i. coulld lk aatthe space nd say e justfoundd home freeing upp pennsylvania avenue. >> it desn't create job for the regoon but moves them araround.d. >> it creates the district of columbia for pennssylvania avenue. remarkab to get the f.b.i. outof tere and reuse the ace in some of the most prominent real estate in he unid states. >> a win forr virginia that th kept thhe redsskins or did everyone expect that to happen ter all ththe differerent tlk about whether r or notthey mht relocate? >> i don't think the redskins

even made it above or below th fold this weeek. there is a lotmore goin on that, the gang in general dynamics, exxon. >> ssome fiighting words from president obama. stay with us. we'll do quick business for the station by going to commercial break but we'll be ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

>> and we're back witth our round table. joining us jim dinegar from th grter wasashington booard of trade. jenner nycz-conner fromm the "whinington usiness jorn" and petemoricifrom the smith school of businss.

fridawe heard the president say he wntsto rein in spending and there were some words between romney and obama. >> i republicans want to be helpful, if they really want to move forward and put people back to work, what they should be thinking about is how do we help state and local governments and how do we help the construction industry? because the recipe that they're promoting is basically the kinds of policies that would add weakness to the economy. >> and his answer for econmic vitality, by the way, was, of course, pushing aside the private sector which he ssaid i doing fne. instead he wantss to add more t government. he wants another stimulus. he wants to hire more government workers. he says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. did he not get the message of

sconsin? the american people did. it's time for us to cut back and hep the american peple. >> jim dinegar you say mitt romney is rigght the priate sector isn't doining fine. the president said ttheprivate sector is hiring. it's the public sector where we're seeing layoffs and said it's time to put mre moneyy into hiring teahers, firefights, police officers. statistically you look aat the numbers from the jobs report. the president is right, is he not? >> i don't tink eitheer one is ght, mitt or the president. the probem isn't that there i this gonng on or hat oing on. there i so mch political fhting going on i the admistration, in the campaaign. it is the most activee legislative --- legislature i've evever seen and t least pructive time. businesses are not making the investmentthehey could make an they're all waitg now for resolution in greeece. waiting right now esolution on

the sequestration. it is an uncertain timeme arrou the country and more inn the greater washington area instead of everywhere else. we're on the edge of ourr seat riright w. >> jennifer,r, hat do you hear from the business community for what they want to see from eitheside? >> jim hit it n the head with he uncertainty. that's onee of thoe pervasive poisons that get into the community. you are trying to read the tea leaves and you might no want toto put money into someone you donn't think you can afford a year from nw. >> peter. i want you to say what you want toay. let's do that. the president said that all the smart economists, all the smart economists agree with him that ifif only congress had passed h jobs bill a year ago we would haveone million more workers at work today. he aid instead they only passed thepayyrollllax cut. what was it that the president said was lacking and ddo you

agree we woul have onne million more workers at t work today? >> if h polledd economists i guess i wasn't included. i did't go to the ivvy league like mr. obama did. in order to create a million jobs you would have to spend, you know, another $100 billion, another $200 billioespecially the way he spennditt and that's not the way it's goig to happenen. let's keep t that out of it. there is a point heree. ifyou spend i on construction and d you really get the money t you can creaate one job for every $100,000 you speend. if you put your money to o green bbuilding, acouple of architects sit around for thre years or a ail program from nowhee to no placeor put it into otther crony issuewhere y giv it to somee from your campaign. you won't create a lot ooff dollars bua shutter facty aft a year. >> we've been callinthe government to acct ore like te private sector. you won't get itt always riight

>> they never got it right. this is when you put a nobel laureate of phyics in charge of business. it thinks it can si back and micromanage te economy from a distan. something about the budt needs to be done. the prsident made it his cacampaign strategy to he it ccome up in deecember as opppos to now. that's w why sequestration. >> you can't argue that therre couldn't have been stimlus dollars better spent. but do you agreeee with the president's contenon that were it not for the stimulus, we would haveven fewer jobs? >> here is my problem with that. the prident sayss ifonly the republicans did thhis. if only the reublicans did tha. if frogshad winds their butts wouldn't hit the ground when they jumped. when wha* is the realitof he situation now. it's a diisapppointment there i all his friction and bback fighting. thngs need tto be done. >> he isalways playing the game of saying alleconomists s

agree. >> botth parties. letme jump in hee. jejenner nycz-conner. >> we can arge all the thin we want but at the endof th dayy a ceo ddecides he'll hire somebody and yyou have to give that ceoa reaason tohire somebody. >> jimm you say a $3,000 tax incecentive o hire a new worker in some field simply doesn't cut it in the e wshinon area when thy're looking at otther things like the cost of doing business. >> it doesn't cut it anywhere. i need more people waalkinginto my restaurant before i hirea new waiter or waitress. >> what do the resident and congress do to help that? >> partly gett out of the way and e ddecisive from m the midd lead wth others that will accomplplish things,s, notpolar. >> things can be done that te president tlked about dong that he hasnn't done. deal with the trade deficit with china.

deal with china's unervalued currency. he called his bluffand he ddidn't do it. the president bends his knees and why we have the huge trade deficit and drilling for ththe gulf. if he would ststart developing domestic oil and gas he cold create 2 1/2 million jjobs.. ssomething about the chinese defiit theame nummber of jobs. we have a weak-kneed president that likes to blame the conference. you clearly y need more offee. we'lget you some during the ♪ [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, repeplacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories,

america's berage companies are delivering.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> aand welccome back. before we get back to our ated round table like to tell you abouout a few highlights fr

the chamber f commerce'53rd nual dinner i attended on wednesday. the chairman of the chamber presented tthe chairman's award to gus for his yers of service to the cchamber and the greater maryland community. the visionary award went to iff kendall. the chaman of thee board ofof vse corporation, one of the true innovators in our region who in the1960s helped launch the industry of technology solutions for businness and govnment. despite all his accomplishments he always thnnks both his mother and wif for hhow far he got in life. we'd like to ongratulate mr. rice, the rckville based i.t. firm taken the reins for the montgomery cocounty chamber congratulations to all of yu and oour own jennfer

nycz-conner attending these types of inners standing at the tatable that you learn more than any otr way that ouu work as a journalist and covering it for the bck page. kudos on that. >> it has beeen fiveyears ofn extendd mba educcation. learning the human dynamics between people. it is a fascinating thing i et to do every week.. a lot of fun to see business leaders iin their environment. >> keeping yr ear tto the ground. youe well-known, jim for keeping your ear to th ground. real questions about changes in leadership this week at two major companies. genereral dynamics and whaat i stl refuse to give up calling ca. there i maybe the heads of these two important defense contractors wanted to get out befoe sequestrattion. >> tthat's a big, looming storm. everybody isconcerned about what it will mean to the businesses and more beyond greaeater washington

>> lelet's mind ou viewers what it is. the automatic spending cuts half fom defense spending and hahalf from other pending unles congress comes up with an alternative will go intto eeffe under law. >> to thetune of$6600 billion in defense spending. the two leaderof thhosetwo organizations, it is cerainly a coincidence that they are leaving the same time. that they've made thatt announcement. it is a big change in the grter washingngton rregion now. people e cming in behind them, that's a big deal. the first woman executiv of a very senior level or senior organization of general dynamics. it's a big change and think it reiorces the fact that wommen in tthe greaater washing region have more pportunities than anywhere else around the country. >> these spending cuts will have a great impact on our region but afterr my years workiking in congress and now witnessing wat is going on now i'm a big an of automatic cuts if f they don't get their work doe. gogood or bad d idea? >> i do't think thhey were a good idea and i faultspeaker

boehner for have them hapen after the electon, half defense anhalf everything g else. the president gets to old them hostaguntil aftter the electio if we weere dealing wth tis problemow, iit would come out very differetlbecae mr. obama would have to fae the voteron what gt cut ad what didn't get cut. i think it would make a big difference. >> we have to get to the silver linining. it was abig desion this week, jennife whaatt hpened wi the silver line funding? >> all kinds of things about em beinglimited to airport. ththey are at a poit are they going to go frward with the project they agreed upon or stop in their tracks? >> i taled to the county taxpayers saying it on't go far enough away from my house but im, twotoone people wanting to buildhline. >> there are to loudocountiess. the urbn area, the more agricultural areea. it is a different bnefit for both. itstrikes me that there may be

a moe to tax the people wh would get more use out oof it. to have a user fee in addition to the tols and maybbe tht's ppart of the solution. i know it is being nsiidered but the bigdecision this week was the mettropolitan washingto rport authority to forego o the labor agreement. no way it would flfly in irgini. >>a big win. ththey dont hav tose union labor. are there repercussions for the rest of labor? >> i think there are. its a recognition of reality. remember, these are private coractors working on a public project. 7% of the labor force nationally is represented in the private sector by unios. the notion thatunion wags efllect the revailing wage ju is not true. it is just not. and to immpose -- aand al because of those e requirements the virginiamoneey was bing spent on-- >> we e did a full half hour. we never say we have enough time foror the round table and here we are. everye wananting to jump in. never enough time for the rond

table. stay with us. we'll be back in a minute to stay [ male announcer ] it would be easy for u.s. olympian meb keflezighi

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fios internet...the speed, you can't comparere. i'm able to take care of things much faster now. [ male announcer ] get fios: $99.99 a month for two years with no annual contract. or get $250 back with a two-year contract. last chance... offer ends june 16. is change good? in this case, change is very good. [ male announcer ] call 1.866.569.fios. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.866.569.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. fios. a network ahead. ♪ >> he took bloomburg g his company would hire as manyy as 10,000 nnew employees. marriott employs 120,000 people worlide. thanks for joining us this eek.

we hope to see you again next sunday. as always appreciate you tuning ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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