Harvard Poll: U.S. losing its zeal

Harvard Poll: U.S. losing its zeal

Business leaders are warning that the federal budget morass is one symptom of a far more troubling problem: long-term challenges to U.S. competitiveness that are sapping America's strengths, according to a Harvard Business School survey.

The poll of nearly 7,000 alumni business leaders and more than 1,000 members of the public found that business leaders foreseeing a decline in competitiveness outnumbered — by more than two to one — those predicting an improvement.

While the members of the public were more optimistic, they agreed with business leaders about the greatest weaknesses in the nation's business environment, including America's K-to-12 education system, tax code and political system.

"It's very hopeful that we see such consensus. ... On the other hand, it does raise the question: Why can't we get things done?" said Jan W. Rivkin, the Bruce V. Rauner professor at Harvard Business School and one of the study's authors. "We're in a period of real gridlock in Washington. ... We should be paying more attention to the challenges to U.S. competitiveness."

Across the political spectrum, Rivkin said, business leaders and the public called on President Obama and Congress to:

• put the federal budget on a sustainable path, one that includes both revenue increases and spending control;

• reform the corporate tax code by reducing statutory rates and eliminating loopholes;

• make a sustained effort to improve America's infrastructure;

• address distortions of the international trading system that puts the United States at a disadvantage; and

• develop a responsible framework for tapping newly accessible gas and oil reserves, a framework that balances both the economy and the environment.

Business leaders additionally supported moves by Washington to streamline regulations and ease immigration rules for highly skilled workers.

The survey also assessed what businesses are doing to improve the nation's competitiveness and found that the ones most likely to take steps were manufacturers, followed by education and health-care organizations.

Financial service firms were least likely to act, the survey found.

"Business is stepping up to do its role, but there's still a lot more they can do," Rivkin said, "not out of patriotism or altruism, but because it makes good business sense."

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