I came across this article which discusses this subject. There is a link to a report entitled "Choose to Compete: How Innovation, Investment and Productivity Can Grow U.S. Jobs and Ensure American Competitiveness in the 21st Century". This report addresses a lot of the issues raised in this thread. The article link is
http://www.computerworld.com/govern...licy/story/0,10801,88840,00.html?nas=PM-88840
The report link is:
http://www.cspp.org/reports/ChooseToCompete.pdf
A few interesting excerpts from the report:
U.S. economic strength lies in orchestrating the best combination
of domestic and foreign resources to produce and deliver innovative, high-quality, lowcost products and services all day, every day â and doing it better than foreign competitors. This competitive advantage can be nurtured with American
creativity, ingenuity, invention and entrepreneurship
â and with the right public policies and business
priorities in place.
Worldwide operations benefit the U.S. economy, American workers and consumers as well. Much of the substantial revenue earned abroad cycles back to Americans in the form of jobs and
wages for workers, investment in research and development, pro fits for shareholders and taxes for the U.S. economy.
âBuy Americanâ policies may seem patriotic, but they are, in fact, impractical and even counterproductive.
We are better off playing to our strengths â innovation, high skills and high value-added goods and services that we can
export to great advantage â than trying to produce everything in the United States.
By nature, Americans are opportunistic, competitive and
resilient â qualities that serve people well in times of change.
The landscape is different now that economic forces are global rather than national or local, but American companies and workers can rely on the same can-do attitudes, entrepreneurial qualities and willingness to embrace innovation and change to
prosper in this new environment as they have in the past.