Caterpillar Chief Slams D.C.

Count Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman among the corporate chiefs who’s fed up with D.C.: “The process was ugly and it was a red herring of a problem,” Oberhelman tells the Financial Times. “The politicians turned this into this big giant thing that scares people … Here we are with no free trade agreements, not anywhere in sight.” Caterpillar, which is the world’s largest producer of earthmoving equipment, usually refrains from political comments. Separately, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has called on corporate leaders to stop all political donations until Congress reaches a bipartisan debt-reduction deal. So far, 100 of Schultz’s peers have signed up.