Mal Mixon, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Invacare was part of a panel on Fox & Friends this morning. Gretchen Carlson of Fox questioned Mal and two other panel members about the current health care bill proposal and President Obama's handling of other initiatives including job growth.

Mal has an obvious stake in the health care bill that may or may not still be alive now that Scott Brown won the Senate seat in Massachusetts. If the bill passes, Invacare will be one of the many health care manufacturing companies that will face an extra tax to help pay for the plan. According to Mal, the Invacare portion of the bill will be in the neighborhood of $12 million dollars annually. "That is more than my R&D budget and US profits alone," said Mixon.

As the largest employer in Lorain county, Ohio Mal and many of his employees worked hard to invite President Obama to visit Invacare and discuss other ways to handle the same issues. The President has decided not to make the trip, but Mal briefly spoke about the plan he would have proposed during the visit. Mal's plan would eliminate the manufacturing tax and replace it with tax credits. Based on company performance, the tax credits would be used for the sole purpose of hiring new employees to allow companies to expand, creating new jobs and paying more income taxes based on profits.

Mixon has led Invacare since 1979 when he and a group of Cleveland based investors bought the company from then parent Johnson & Johnson. He serves on the boards of several Cleveland area corporations and civic organizations, including chairmanship of the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. Mixon is highly regarded in the Cleveland business community and has been recognized nationally for his entrepreneurial skill and leadership. He received his education, BA and MBA from Harvard, and served four years in the Marine Corps prior to launching his business career.