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January 23, 2007
The incredible shrinking competitiveness agenda
A year ago, economic competitiveness was a hot topic. Various bills had been introduced in the Congress and the President's State of the Union address unveiled a new American Competitiveness Initiative. Forget the fact that these proposals were narrow in scope -- at least people were talking about the issue.
Fast forward to today. Competitiveness is almost completely missing in action. The President's 2007 State of the Union Policy Initiatives have reduced his American Competitiveness Initiative to an adjunct to the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind. (Since it was heavily focused on math & science education anyway, this doe not surprise me. But it does worry me.) The rest of the President's economic focus was old line economics; less government, balance the budget, lower taxes, control entitlements, etc.
One could argue that the energy and health care initiatives in the State of the Union address major competitiveness issues. I can buy part of that. Dealing with soaring health care costs is an important part of increasing our competitiveness. But cutting gasoline use is hardly the major leap forward in technological progress that could be used to spur economic competitiveness in energy-intensive areas.
The Democrats were only a little better in their pre-State of the Union address last week. In addition to talking about math and science education in the context of No Child Left Behind, Speaker Pelosi at least mentioned doubling federal funding for basic R&D in the physical sciences, expanding the R&D tax credit and fostering greater deployment of broadband. But that is not even close to the rudimentary innovation and competitiveness agenda left over from last year.
Jim Webb's response does address the issue of economic insecurity head on:
Wages and salaries for our workers are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth, even though the productivity of American workers is the highest in the world. Medical costs have skyrocketed. College tuition rates are off the charts. Our manufacturing base is being dismantled and sent overseas. Good American jobs are being sent along with them.
In short, the middle class of this country, our historic backbone and our best hope for a strong society in the future, is losing its place at the table. Our workers know this, through painful experience. Our white-collar professionals are beginning to understand it, as their jobs start disappearing also. And they expect, rightly, that in this age of globalization, their government has a duty to insist that their concerns be dealt with fairly in the international marketplace.
Unfortunately, the Senator doesn't lay out an agenda to deal with the issue, other than to say "we're working on it."
Good start in recognizing the problem. But more, much more needs to be done before the American people will believe that the Democrats really have an alternative.
There is hope. The Congressional session is brand new - so there is still plenty of time for economic competitiveness and innovation to rise to the attention of lawmakers. There is also time for a broad debate on our economic challenges. That debate started in the last Congress. Let us continue that debate.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at January 23, 2007 9:45 PM
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