Google’s Eric Schmidt Says He is Frustrated that “America is in the Process of Falling Behind Asia”

In an interview on FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Your World with Neil Cavuto, Google (GOOG) Chairman, Eric Schmidt said he is frustrated that “America is in the process of falling behind Asia.” Excerpts from the interview can be found below, courtesy of FOX News Channel’s Your World with Neil Cavuto:

On whether the President has spoken with him about the position of Treasury Secretary:
“Let’s not talk about private conversations. Let’s stay focused on Google and me.”

On whether he is frustrated with America:
“I am frustrated that America is in the process of falling behind Asia. I was recently in Asia and the Asian view of America is that we are the past.”

On whether he has an interest in going into government:
“I’d prefer to remain in the private sector. The private sector is the economic engine of innovation and creativity in America. It’s the proper place for me. What I will tell you is that I think that the current criticism of Tim Geithner is probably misplaced.”

On the big economic picture:
“The government had this big food fight over money they don’t have to spend. And business wants stability, business wants predictable policies. Private sector in America is amazingly creative…. So there’s reasons to be optimistic, the government needs to get its act together.”

On the job market:
“Asia has a different model and somehow they are growing much faster so I think what’s really going on here is we’re seeing can we grapple with the long term structural economic problems of the United States. They have been well articulated to your viewers and to everyone by the deficit commission and so forth. It’s primarily this long term increase in expenses related to Medicare and Medicaid and the aging of America. And private sectors job is to go create jobs, create businesses, create value, we can do that. The governments got to figure out how to spend less money or figure out where they want to put it.”

On whether he thinks credit rates and interest rates are going to move up a lot:
“Well, a bank downgrade changes the cost of capital for all of the businesses. So if it ripples through the economy, which everyone is very worried about, then it’s a problem.”

“I was surprised it didn’t happen in 2008 when the markets were in a very different situation. So rather than looking at a specific downgrade let’s look at the overall issue, let’s look at the fundamental problem that the government is spending way too much money and the projections are that it is out of control. This is a problem primarily with Congress, it has been true for thirty years, it is not a new problem, it has been true for both parties and the way to solve this is to have a real conversation about how much overspending we want. It’s OK to overspend a little bit, a little bit of a deficit spending appears to be simulative under most economic assumptions; we are way out of those areas, way, way out of those areas.”

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