America’s economic engine is compromised. Forces at work over the last 30 years have sapped our nation’s vitality. What are we doing about it?

With the country’s businesses, government and media fixated this last decade and more on profits and the financial sector, efforts on the part of government were of little help in slowing manufacturing’s decline. Whether state-based or Federal, most government action came in the form of growth incentives, or relief for effected companies. Tax credits for research, capital improvements, hiring and training, and tax relief for manufacturers facing foreign competition did little.

Tax credits, well intentioned though they may be, can do nothing for the legions of manufacturers struggling just to stay in business. Without profits tax credits are almost worthless. One could argue, in fact, that government intervention actually enabled the very management behavior that gave force to the flood of global sourcing and work displacement.

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