Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Money & Business

Capital Commerce

Entries for October 16, 2006

Should Uncle Sam Help Domestic Manufacturers?

October 16, 2006 12:50 PM ET |

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.

...continue reading.

About the Capital Commerce Blog

Send an E-mail to capcom@usnews.com.

James Pethokoukis is the money and politics blogger for U.S. News & World Report , where he writes the monthly Capital Commerce magazine column. Pethokoukis is also the assistant managing editor of the magazine's Money & Business section. He has written for many publications including the New York Times, the American, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, and TCS Daily. Pethokoukis is also an official CNBC contributor and appears frequently on that network's Kudlow & Company, Power Lunch, and The Call shows. In addition, he has appeared numerous times on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, CNN, and Nightly Business Report on PBS. A 1989 graduate of Northwestern University where he double majored in Soviet politics and American history and a 1991 graduate of the Medill School of Journalism, Pethokoukis is a 2002 Jeopardy! champion.

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