Charlotte's top business leaders say 2011 turned out far worse than expected and they don't see things getting much better in 2012. At the Charlotte Chamber's annual economic outlook conference, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan again used what lately seems to be his favorite adjective for the economy: "grinding." "2012 will be another year that's a grinding economy," said Moynihan. "We'll have slow growth, we'll have to keep working on it. The rest of the world will grow faster, the U.S. will grow slower and Europe will grow slower than the U.S." "Dysfunctionality will continue in Washington," declared Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers. "In short, we've got more of the same to look forward to this year in terms of slow growth, no meaningful job creation and tremendous uncertainty due to things like excessive regulation," said NuCor CEO Dan DiMicco. Rogers and DiMicco also pointed to the problem of workers employed in low-wage jobs beneath their skill level. DiMicco says the "skills gap" of available workers lacking the skills to fill open jobs is "hogwash." Rather, DiMicco says businesses should be creating jobs to match the skills people have.
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