Entries for October 16, 2006

A recent study from the National Association of Manufacturers claims that the competitiveness of domestic companies is being hurt by rising "structural costs." Problem areas include taxes, employee benefits, litigation expenses, and energy prices. As the NAM figures it, U.S. manufacturers are at a 31.7 percent cost disadvantage vs. foreign rivals. That's up from 22.4 percent in 2003. "The sharp rise in these nonwage costs represents a significant and long-term problem for our nation's manufacturers and America's economy," said John Engler, the NAM's president and former Republican governor of Michigan, when the report was released.