U.S.'s competitiveness rating falters — Congress does nothing

WASHINGTON — It turns out we were right to be worried about our country's international economic standing. Statistical measures and a survey of business owners indicate the United States has fallen to fourth among nations in global competitiveness.

The respected World Economic Forum's new report on global competitiveness shows that while the U.S. is still the most innovative nation, Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore now outrank us in overall economic competitiveness.

America's deficits and national debt, weakened financial system, lack of access to credit and uncertain government regulatory climate were cited as reasons for the decline. Two years ago, the U.S. ranked first in competitiveness.

Without referring to the loss of confidence in the U.S. economy, President Obama now concedes more must be done at the federal level. Instead of proposing more bailouts for companies deemed "too big to fail," Obama's new tack is to propose giving businesses a 100 percent immediate tax write-off for purchases of new equipment and making the research-and-development tax credit permanent.

These are common-sense, low-cost, job-friendly, GOP-like policies that should be implemented at once. Will that happen? No. It's an election year; incumbents and other candidates are so frightened about voter anger that they don't want to endorse anything, positive or not. It's easier to go negative, which usually works.

Obama has been less than forceful about what needs to be done. He assumed voters would be swayed by the general agreement among economists he did what had to be done to prevent another depression. But he has seemed so out of touch, anemic and unpersuasive about the real fear about the shrinking middle class that many have tuned him out altogether.

Republicans — especially John Boehner, the Ohio congressman who expects to be the next speaker of the House — have fed the fear and legitimate anger. But they have contributed next to no ingredients to the pot of serious ideas on how to restructure the nation's financial system and create jobs.

Republicans insist that despite the deficit and national debt, Congress should keep George W. Bush's tax cuts intact (and eventually make them permanent). Obama says the tax cuts should be kept for those earning below $250,000 a year. The two percent of wealthiest Americans would begin paying the same tax rates they paid in the Clinton presidency to help pay for extension for the middle class.