January 23, 2008 1:10PM

First Impressions

By Alexis Glick

I’m not hearing the party line or canned responses. Everyone of the people that I interviewed today did not hold back. Former Treasury Secretary John Snow said a $150B stimulus package is not enough. $200B is the number he would like to see. Roughly 1.5%-2% of U.S. GDP, but it must be timely. That, says Snow, combined with a good monetary policy would avoid a sharp economic downturn.

Steve Forbes said the key to turning around the U.S. Economy is supporting the U.S. dollar and he wants the Federal Reserve Bank to step up to the plate and sell bonds from its portfolio to remove some of the excess dollar liquidity.

Steve Roach, the Economist from Morgan Stanley said a stimulus package and a Fed that continues to cut rates is irresponsible. We are in a recession and we will not begin to come out of it until early 2009.

Now some of what we heard was harsh but as Rich Edelman, a public relations expert and CEO of Edelman said, CEOs need to be honest. They need to speak the truth and guide investors. It’s not about rock star CEOs. It’s about accountability and the value of the brand. In a place like Davos I have no doubt that the brand that’s on everyone’s mind is the U.S. Brand. American companies are in focus and what we are learning is that while America’s share of Global GDP is declining, this Country is a leader and innovator and many countries around the Globe take their cue from us.

First impressions….. I’m glad the issues are being thrown on the table. That people are not afraid to speak their mind and that many solutions are being discussed.