This says it all. The lawyers are making everything too expensive. Stupid corrupt lawsuits are draining funds, and forcing more companies over seas. You can fight competition, you can fight the government, but you can't fight law suits.
You assume that those companies spent all that money defending themselves against lawsuits.
I knew lieyers were bad but my jaw just dropped to the basement.
Yet this distinguished committee of ivory-tower, stuffed-shirt bureaucrats fails to mention Tort Reform as a major component of the solution.
What do they come up with instead?
MORE federal social spending on education and INTERNET ACCESS.
INTERNET ACCESS???
WTF do we need to be spending money on Internet Access, for crying out loud?
We ALREADY HAVE the most widespread internet access on the face of the friggin planet, and the private sector continues to invest to expand and upgrade service WITHOUT more government handouts.
BONE between the ears!
Just where the hell do they think the money's going to come from when already extravegent federal deficit spending is hemmorhaging OUT of our domestic economy as a half-Trillion dollar Trade Deficit???
We need to divert that cash flow BACK INTO our domestic economy to stimulate peaceful utilization of our own natural resourses. Levy a 10~15% flat-rate revenue tariff on ALL imported goods and corresponingly reduce the corporate income tax. THAT will provide incentive for private investment in domestic industries. And when the job opportunities arise, people will CHOOSE educational paths for careers in those industries.
And if they want to more directly stimulate technological development with federal spending, they can ditch the social programs and focus on infrastructure development. We need more power plants (clean-coal and nuclear), desalination plants to provide fresh-water for our densely populated coastal states, electricly powered mass-transit systems to reduce our OPEC-oil dependence, and LEVEES to protect our cities and towns from floods. BUILDING INFRASTRUCTUE creates wealth and stimulates growth.
Lawsuit-happy trial lawyers are only part of the problem. Other problems are the public schools (students at expensive private acedemies do very well in such tests) and corporate America's culture of greed and entitlement. Like it or not, the business community is part of the problem.
I suppose the ideal business environment would be one without government regulation except, of course, where government would restrict the right of people to sue business while putting no limits on business to business lawsuits.