Seidenberg takes on health care, education

Sounding as much like a politician as a telecom executive, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg yesterday told a gathering of Chicago area executives that the U.S. needs to do more to regain its title as the top destination for investment capital.

Speaking to the Executives Club of Chicago, Seidenberg said regulatory barriers are costing the country. He noted that China last year for the first time trumped the U.S. as the place with the largest foreign direct investment in the world.

In an election season where job outsourcing has become a hot political topic, Seidenberg said elected leaders and regulators should be focused as much on investment outflows because of the ease at which money can now move around the globe.

"Capital flows overseas much more easily than jobs ever could," he said. "Unlike jobs, capital can move instantaneously anywhere in the world with virtually no cost. Moving a factory requires a significant investment of resources; moving capital takes the click of a keystroke."

Investments, he added, are really what create jobs and innovation.

Seidenberg said the government should focus on policies that artificially lower return on investment, specifically the current tax code and regulatory system. Though specifically mentioning a flat tax, while not taking a position on such a proposal, Seidenberg added that "we need some bold new thinking to assure our tax policies are fair, strike the right balance among our citizens, and help win the competition to keep more capital here."

In a press conference after his speech, Seidenberg came back to more familiar territory, suggesting that Verizon already has made it clear that it won’t be moving in lock step with SBC Communications and BellSouth in fiber-to-the-premises plans. Though all three participated in the initial FTTP RFP, SBC has pulled back on the architecture slightly by saying it will bring fiber to a neighborhood node and not all the way to the home.

"In the long-term, we both have to compete with cable," Seidenberg said.

And on the day that the company said it would use Motorola’s set-top box and other equipment in its initial video rollouts (see story), Seidenberg boldly predicted that within five years everyone would be watching high-definition television.