Former GE CEO Jack Welch broadcast his distress with the Obama administration and its handling of economic policy Thursday morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Welch said that the economic outlook has worsened in recent months and the White House has done little to help.
“I think the economy has been terrible, and they have not done things to move the economy forward,” the self-described moderate Republican said.
Welch said that the White House is lacking in the wisdom that a corporate executive could provide.
“They don’t have the foggiest idea about business,” Welch said.
Watch Jack Welch's full appearance on CNBC below.
Part 1 of CNBC's Interview with Jack Welsh:
Part 2 of CNBC's Interview with Jack Welsh:
He is among a host of corporate chieftains being named within the business community as an appropriate successor to Larry Summers, Obama’s top economic adviser, who announced this week that he was leaving the White House by the end of the year.
Is Welch up for the job?
“They’d fire my butt in about an hour,” he said. “Yeah, I’d be cute in that job.”
Welch said the knock on the Republican Party—that the GOP is saying no to everything without reason—is without merit: “The ‘Party of No’ has said, ‘No,' because the policies that were there were terrible to grow the economy and jobs.”
Welch said he thought the White House would be chastened by the upcoming midterm election.
“Hopefully if the election comes out the way I hope it does we have a Bill Clinton type conversion from 92 to 94…..I'm hopeful. Bill Clinton certainly came around and became a hell president with Newt Gingrich for six years,” the 74-year-old said.
Welch laid out his case against the failures of the administration’s economic plans. He said Obama got off on the wrong foot by systematically intimidating industries, from travel to insurance to oil and gas.
“Business by business by business, the rhetoric was nasty, nasty, nasty,” Welch said.
He said the administration was beholden to labor, highlighting the recess appointment of former S.E.I.U. official Craig Becker to the National Labor Review Board.
Finally, he said a thicket of new regulations is holding that financial sector back.
“Regulations are crippling,” Welch said.