If the economy gets moving, he'll know
FedEx's performance is one of the indicators of the overall economy that even the Federal Reserve keeps an eye on. Kai Ryssdal talks with its President and CEO Fred Smith about how it's handling the recession.
Fred Smith, FedEx founder, president and CEO (FedEx)
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EXECUTIVE SNAPSHOT
Who: FedEx founder, President and CEO Fred Smith.
Education: Smith earned a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University.
What you may not know: Smith served as an officer in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
Comments
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From Memphis, TN, 10/04/2009
Dear Mr Smith i don't know if i will get a response to this but i was told that you were a very caring person. I was employee of yours for 13 years until i was told i had breast cancer. I had to have chemo and a mastectomy making me unable to lift at that present time.Because of this i was told i could not return. It's been difficult because i was even denied my unemployment. I use to have a lot of faith and loved working for your company. But one good thing i am cancer free now and with this month being breast cancer month i felt compelled to write and tell you how unfair i have been treated.If you read this please email me back. Thank you.
From Alexandria, VA, 03/12/2009
I'd like to see how Mr. Smith backs up his statement that the oil crisis caused the subprime mortgage crisis. It was never a matter of choosing to fill the gas tank vs. paying the mortgage. Individuals with these toxic loans were never going to be able to afford their payments once they ballooned, no matter the price at the pump.
From Stockton, CA, 03/12/2009
We have been over sold for a long time.
Need to write something down. Grab a #2 pencal and you are ready to go. No battery or plastic.
From Memphis, TN, 03/11/2009
Mr. Smith is right about the weakening of industry and manufacturing being a primary factor of the economic downturn in the US, but it began a long time ago: selling majority investment in our banks, our real estate, and our industries to foreign entities; allowing our industry, our economic producers, to move abroad to avoid paying decent wages and high taxes; not protecting US economy from cheap imports that undermine homeland industry; and fostering the flood of cheap labor who work illegally. Where are the mining and steel mills? The manufacturers? What happened to Levi Strauss and Alcoa in East TN and Bethlehem Steel in PA? In my sister's home town in CO, the iron mine and steel mill closed because they couldn't produce metal cheaper than what was being imported from China. The US producers couldn't compete on their home turf, so the market went away, the companies went away, and the jobs went away. No production, no sales, no income, no spending. If Congress had done its job to protect the future of Americans over the last 30 years, they wouldn't be haggling over this huge bailout now. And where is that money coming from? Now we have become a nation of consumers and debtors. They might as well give the title deed of the USA to the foreign investors and sell us all into slavery.
03/11/2009
I concur that Mr. Smith seems not to know that industry doesn't invest in plants and equipment unless people are buying their products. Without jobs or their ATM houses any longer, the consumer is tapped out. And in case he isn't aware, there is very little MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY left in the good old US of A, thanks to Big Bidness cutting costs to the bone by jettisoning labor and wages at every opportunity. So now the chickens have landed. No jobs, no purchases, no jobs - and the downward spiral continues to spin...........
From Phillipsburg, NJ, 03/11/2009
Fed ex is a perfect example of what is wrong w/this country.They ignore Labor laws&are about to get wacked bigtime by the Labor dept.They describe their employees as indepedant contractors yet control everything.He demonstrates his complete ignorance by saying "all we have to do is get industry&manufacturers buying again."Industry&manufacturers make money by PRODUCING,THEY LOSE MONEY BY BUYING!tIME TO RETIRE YOUR REP.PROPAGANDA,MR.SMITH.
From Brooklyn, NY, 03/11/2009
Fred Smith may know a great deal about FedEx, but he is either ignorant or delusional on the subject of economics. An upturn later this year?! The oil price spike the spark that lit the fuse?!
Maybe he just hopes in the power of positive speaking.
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