Best place to do business?

On June 14, "Our collapsing value", and on August 30, "A declining American Brand", we have explained various problems facing US companies for dealing with the rest of the world, in contradiction to Business Week.

Two weeks ago, Economist Intelligence Unit published its annual business environment rankings, a survey started ten years ago. Unfortunately, we did tumble to 9th from 4th place.

According to the latest report, Canada, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Australia will all have better business environments than the U.S., in the next five years. Such report confirms what we have been saying in our two articles of June 14 and August 30.

Main reasons for the lack of US attractiveness in the business environment:

- mounting financial and macroeconomic risks
- increased protectionism, and security concerns
- strained international relations.

Fundamental features of the US business environment will remain attractive (deregulated labour markets, the high quality of infrastructure, leadership in technology) and the differences between countries at the top of the business environments league are fairly small—so the changes for the US should not be exaggerated.

Nonetheless, there are undoubtedly also signs of deterioration in key areas and causes for concern. Other countries will make progress in improving their business environment, while the overall quality of conditions in the US will stagnate.

This should be a wake-up for the Congress, and the media, to become trusty, open-minded, and alert. Instead of voting irresponsible resolutions to boycott every one, every where, they should start boycotting the White House. They should also denounce certain politicians (Cheney, Bolton, Lieberman) who, with taxpayers money, are working against the interest of the American people, by protecting/promoting the selfish desires of certain small groups.

The Facilitator

Presidential Courage

In his new book "A Higher Purpose: Profiles in Presidential Courage", Thomas Whalen described a series of acts of political courage by various Presidents in our history. A few examples:

- Chester Arthur who, despite being well connected with the patronage system, became a model president, by establishing the bi-partisan Civil Service Commission to eliminate the patronage system at the Federal level.

- We all know the courage of Harry Truman who fired Douglas MacArthur in 1951. The General of the Army, who was at that time, very popular, but had a problem with insubordination.

- Also, John F. Kennedy who knew that if he went against the segregationists, he could lose the 1964 election.

As explained by Thomas Whalen, when confronted with difficult choices, some presidents make decisions that lead to personal redemption. They see the light, and act on their conscience.

Unfortunately, all those qualities do not apply to the present President. He did not have the courage to fire Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Bolton, Chertoff, Rove, and so many more.

How about the accumulation of bad nominations, including the influence of Giuliani at Homeland Security (Kerik and Chertoff). Staying the course, in spite of failures, and against all sound advices, is not courageous, but plain stupid, irresponsible and incompetent.

Very few of the present presidential candidates have the courage of their convictions, and dare to say what they believe should be done, for a better country. Unfortunately, the media do not cover them properly. The voters are not always aware of what is best for them.

We are paying the price, now......and our children will bear a tremendous burden, tomorrow....because, we, the nation, did not have the courage to stand up against a coward Congress.

The Facilitator