The Shutdown And Presidency Power With Jack Welch

Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Jack Welch Management Institute Executive Chairman, appeared as a guest host on CNBC's Squawk Box Friday morning, where he expressed frustration with the craziness of the government shutdown and a dislike for the amount of power the executive branch holds.

"Negotiation 101: You sit across the table. First of all, you put yourself on the other side of the table and you say 'What do they, what can they do, what can't they do. You get the lay of the land. The second thing you do is, you make an offer that they will accept some in that range, and you'd be willing to take. And the third thing you do in a negotiation, you want to end up, as you walk out the door, with a win/win," said Welch. 

"Now, they didn't -- both sides went down the wrong path…the Republicans take on the president's signature bill and they say de-fund it. By definition, that's not sitting across the table and saying what will they take and can we work with that? And then the Republicans -- the president says 'I will not negotiate'. That's not a position that the other side can accept either." 

The government shutdown and the failures in negotiation between the Republican party and Obama administration mark a peak in the major dysfunctions in the political process of today, Welch illustrated.

Related: Jack Welch Talks Business: CEOs and Regulation Woes

"So you've got two guys breaking the basic rules of negotiation. And then you end up with the president -- he changed 15 regulations at least from the time it was law. 'So this is law'. Law is enforced by regulation, and he changed the employer mandate, he put congress in, he did that whole series of things. So he says 'I won't negotiate'. One side changes the law as it was approved, the other side sits there like," said Welch, following his sentence by shrugging up his shoulders and making a dumbfounded expression, followed by a sly smile. 

In general, however, Welch sees the Executive Branch as too powerful, noting that it started long before Obama and stating that he saw it start to happen "early in the Bush administration, a bit in the Clinton administration, but it's been this 10 to 15 to 20 years old."

"The presidency… has become too powerful relative to the congress. That's been happening for a long period of time and it's accelerated," said Welch.

At the time of this writing, Jason Cunningham had no position with the mentioned entities. Visit Jason on Twitter @JasonCunningham.