On The Call: 3M CEO George Buckley

U.S. manufacturers were hoping that the federal government's stimulus package would spark infrastructure spending, thus lifting their recession-battered fortunes. But in the months since Washington announced its $787 billion initiative companies that make construction equipment or building materials have seen relatively little effect from the outlays.

One of those manufacturers that is "underwhelmed" by the stimulus plan is 3M, a Dow Jones industrial component that makes everything from car parts to aircraft fasteners and that did surprisingly well in the third quarter.

In a conference call Thursday CEO George Buckley dismissed the federal spending as largely irrelevant.

COMMENT: "Some people will be wondering, 'Has the stimulus package led to this performance?' The short answer is 'no.' (As) stimulus packages go, some countries seem to have done it well, like China, for example. Conversely, some like the United States and United Kingdom have done it badly. Some like Germany and Italy have not done it at all.

As far as we can tell, a whole lot of money is being spent (by Washington and) very little stimulus money has bled into the U.S. economy at large. The Cash for Clunkers program was successful at spurring short-term demand and driving down dealer inventories, but it did not seem to be successful at improving ongoing demand.