GIPBAMAW:

Repeat Competition: Why Obama's State of the Union speech will sound a lot like Bush's and Reagan's. (Annie Lowrey, Jan. 25, 2011, Slate)

What is "competitiveness," anyway, at least in the way Obama will talk about it? And how well is America doing in the global stakes?

To answer the first question, look back to 1983 and yet another major initiative on competitiveness. Twenty-eight years ago, the country perceived a growing economic threat from a highly productive, highly industrialized country in the East—not China, but Japan. In response, President Reagan created the President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness.

The group produced a report a few months later and penned a useful definition of competition—as between nations rather than firms or individuals. A country's "competitiveness is the degree to which it can, under free and fair market conditions, produce goods and services that meet the test of international markets while simultaneously expanding the real incomes of its citizens," the report says. It also notes that "competitiveness at the national level is based on superior productivity performance." Then it identifies ways to help the country on the international stage while aiding workers at home: boosting the technology sector, freeing up capital for new businesses and products, improving the quality of human resources through education, and bolstering international trade.

Those have remained the central tenets of national-level competitiveness projects for decades. The rhetoric might imply that the United States is engaged in a zero-sum fight with other nations, a fight it needs to win. But realistically, everyone benefits from having better technologies and products—if a Chinese scientist cures cancer, the world benefits. And the real competition happens at the firm level anyway.
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To that end, in his 2006 speech, Bush emphasized the need to keep the tax burden on businesses low, immigration policies sensible, research-and-development credits high, and education a strong priority. He mentioned the need to boost exports. He mentioned green energy as a major sector for growth, as well as an environmental and security priority in and of itself.

Obama reportedly plans to focus on much of the same. Rather than an initiative (Bush) or a commission (Reagan), this time the president is convening a council...

Daddy? What was Japan?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 25, 2011 4:00 PM