The idea of government telling business what to do is generally not a welcome thing.
At about the same time, Mr. Lay was telling Business Week that Enron had no undisclosed problems.
Mr. Weill had defended Mr. Grubman strongly, telling Business Week that "Jack probably knows more about the business than anybody I've ever met".
Meanwhile, in Karachi, Mr. Holbrooke continued to push an agenda of soft power, telling business leaders that the United States wanted to invest in energy projects in Pakistan.
"We don't need these Obama-style mandates telling business how to run their business," said Abbott, adding that the "free market" should decide wages, not the federal government.
That year, Perry took out radio ads in California, telling business owners there, "Building a business is tough, but I hear building a business in California is next to impossible.
Mr. Hammer may be best not at telling business what must be done, because that has already been well-analyzed and widely telegraphed, but rather at describing how it should be done.
Earlier, Kim Young Ju, assistant finance minister, pronounced the economy in recession, telling business leaders the gross domestic product had fallen from the previous quarter in each of the last two quarters, the traditional definition of recession.
