ANN M. FUDGE
Member
Ann Fudge is former Chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands, a global advertising firm. She is currently on the board of directors for GE. Before joining Young & Rubicam, Fudge worked for General Mills.
Fudge serves as chair of the U.S. Program Advisory Committee at the Gates Foundation. (The founder of the Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, has said the budget won’t be balanced without taxes going up. Fudge’s boss also urged developed nations not to cut foreign aid budgets in the face of deficits.)
She also serves on the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation (which has suggested higher taxes to save Social Security), Brookings Institution, and Council on Foreign Relations.
Fudge’s experience managing businesses might say something about her approach to the federal budget deficit. In an interview with BigThink.Com, Fudge discussed “cost-cutting” and how it relates to businesses during a recession. Fudge said, overall, businesses should think about how to budget smarter to improve their bottom line, but that, in general, she steered away from the term “cost-cutting.”
Fudge served on President Obama’s campaign finance committee during the 2008 election. Also, according to the Chicago Tribune, she gave $36,000 to Democrats that year.
JUST THE FACTS: DEFICIT COMMISSION MEMBER ANN FUDGE
Ann Fudge, bless her heart, says businesses need to “budget smarter to improve their bottom line.” That’s incredible! My wife and I ran a very competitive business and prospered — not by budgeting smarter, but by first saving money until we could afford to make purchases, then by asking student employees how we could conserve while still producing the same quality of product. This strategy worked! We were profitable every month except one. I can’t help but wonder why other businesses and the government couldn’t do something similar. The keyword here is CONSERVE. How do people who think only about spending more and taxing more get into government positions?