Topic Category: U.S.

Europeans recognize they pay a high price for creating an increasingly dependent society. In fact, Denmark has been transfixed by the revelation of a 36-year-old single mother who collects more in benefits than many Danes earn at work, and has done so for two decades. Worried Karen Haekkerup, Minister of Social Affairs and Integration, says people “think of these benefits as their rights. The rights have just expanded and expanded.” How does this compare to the United States?

When I crossed through Check Point Charlie from West to East Berlin more than two decades ago, countless East Germans told me of their dreams of moving to America. After numerous speaking engagements in Mexico in the 1990s, I found many in the audience either had an American passport or badly wanted one. And on more recent trips to Asia, Chinese students always tell me of their hopes to study and live in the United States. What is it about America that is so appealing? Can it continue?

Despite a rough confirmation hearing, former Republican senator Chuck Hagel is likely to be confirmed as secretary of defense. Thus will end the public career of Leon Panetta, who also served as CIA director, White House chief of staff, director of the Office of Management and Budget and member of Congress.

With an Arab Fall, if not Winter, dominating the Middle East, the U.S. is under pressure to intervene even more. Unfortunately, reliance on imported oil continues to entangle America and other countries in the Middle East’s volatile politics. Washington should free North America’s abundant natural resources instead.

From our Nation’s founding, entrepreneurs, small business owners and small farmers have provided dynamic growth and innovation, creating a flourishing middle class. They have supplied cities and small towns with new products, processes and jobs. The Council on Competitiveness in a 2007 report said the United States leads all major industrial economies in the percent of the adult population engaged in entrepreneurial activity.

Over the past few decades, due diligence practices and international trade activities have undergone significant changes. For example, companies have implemented increasingly sophisticated tools to evaluate risks and opportunities associated with corporate acquisitions. At the same time, firms of all sizes have developed complex and very efficient global supply chains. But serious problems persist.

Too many U.S. policymakers, from Capitol Hill to the various executive branch agencies in Washington, tend to focus on foreign policies and foreign barriers when considering how best to improve the competitive prospects for U.S. firms. The presumption is that the major impediments to the success of U.S. firms are foreign born. Closed foreign markets, complex laws and regulations, overt flaunting of the trade rules, subtle protectionism, and unfair trade are the primary culprits that subvert the success of U.S. firms, discourage investment and hiring, and encourage offshoring of production.

Exports are increasingly important to the United States' economy and American companies for a variety of reasons. For example, Martin Feldstein, Harvard Professor and a member of the Wall Street Journal's board of contributors, says during the last year, the rise in U.S. exports contributed more than 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth. This is especially impactful as the United States struggles to achieve higher levels of growth and lower unemployment, and since American consumer spending, which traditionally has been the engine of growth during past recoveries, is not performing well.

Last year, over $1 million worth of goods crossed our northern border every minute of every day. And that doesn't include trade in services. As a result, Canada, with a population of 34.3 million, continues to be the United States' largest trading partner. What's more, Canada is the biggest merchandise export market for 34 American states, and the second biggest for another 11, the Canadian government says.