Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) :
I think the American economy — I said the table is rather well set. Consumers, businesses, housing, small businesses, they’re all in pretty good shape.
Samuel J. B. Pollock, CEO, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP):
Entering 2013, we believe that the global economic recovery is beginning to accelerate. Prospects for the U.S. economy have improved as the housing market has finally turned the corner. Also after a relatively weak year, the Chinese economy is showing signs of strengthening.
Mortimer Zuckerman, CEO, Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE:BXP):
I think we are looking at the weakest economic recovery in terms of the growth of — in real final sales, employment housing and organic personal income, not to mention that every measure of consumer and small business sentiment is locked in recession terrain. I guess it’s probably fair to state that I’m having trouble seeing the roots of the recovery. In my estimation, there are not too many tools left in the government toolbox. We’ve had the most stimulative fiscal and monetary policies in our history, deficit spending of about $1.3 trillion this past year and monetary policies that, by their own statements, have put in $85 billion a month into the money supply and yet, these policies have failed to reignite the economy. And whatever growth there is cannot be sustained without reliance on government steroids. This is an economy on major life support with virtually 0 economic momentum, and we still face the risk of a major bump from some unforeseen quarter.
Donald James, CEO, Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC):
When we’ve gone back and looked at the last 5 or 6 construction cycles in the U.S., you always see very robust recovery. This cycle is different in a couple of ways. It has been both longer and deeper than anything we have seen, going all the way back to the depression. So an argument can be made if the slope and length of the downturn is proportional to the slope and length of the upturn, which you can see in all the last 5 recessions, we could have a very long and very robust recovery. We are seeing it in housing. We are beginning to see it in private non-res. And as you know, the vast majority and cyclicality in the heavy construction materials business is in the private sector, and there remains relative stability throughout the downturns on publicly funded projects, although there is some cyclicality there as well due to tax revenue changes. But I think we are cautiously optimistic that we’ve got a very good run in front of us. It’s harder to say when the big turn occurs than that it will occur, but we’re — we believe there’s a tremendous upside.
Scott Anderson, CEO, Patterson Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDCO):
They will, I would say, probably the most positive thing in the last 90 days, as I’ve talked to customers across the country, talked to a lot of them last night at a big dinner, is just the growing confidence that the economy is recovering, their practices are stable, their cash flow is increasing.
Jeffrey Mezger, CEO, KB Home (NYSE:KBH) :
While there’s been a few years in the making, housing is becoming a bright spot for the economy, and the industry is once again positioned to play its historical role of being a job creator and leading the national economy into a full recovery. All of our served markets are experiencing positive recovery trends to varying degrees.
The article In Their Own Words: How 10 CEOS Feel About the Economy originally appeared on Fool.com.
TMFHousel has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Coca-Cola. The Motley Fool owns shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and JPMorgan Chase.
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