What is the best way to jump-start the economy – a spending stimulus, tax cuts, rebate checks?
A rebate check to somebody who is unemployed helps them for a very short time. What needs to happen – and it’s the same approach we use here – is we need long-term sustainable measures that will create fertilizer for the ground so things can grow. We need systemic efforts – focusing on infrastructure improvements that will create jobs, education, and social programs that will help create jobs, and some of the tax measures will help create spending. You were in Washington, D.C., last month for the inauguration of President Obama. What was that like? It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a place with a million happy people. I’m still glowing from it. I was awakened in my hotel at 6:30 in the morning by people cheering in the street. It was just a really moving experience. Why did you leave BJ’s after Michael Wedge was named chief executive in 2002? I was kind of in the running for the same promotion. We had very different feelings about how to run the business and the direction o
