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Week of September 17 - 23, 2007 |
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The National Summit on American
Competitiveness |
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The Latest Thinking on Tax Policy
It seems that Congress tries
to tackle extensive tax reform every five years or so. And, it looks
like this debate is going to heat up again over the next couple of
years. The opening salvoes were launched in a House of Representatives
Ways and Means Committee hearing held last week. The hearing was
ostensibly focused on “fair and equitable tax treatment for America’s
working families,” but the comments of the many hearing witnesses
centered on the hot topic of tax treatment of “carried interest” for
venture capital and hedge fund investors. Changes in the alternative
minimum tax were also a hot topic. The witnesses included leading
economists, venture investors and other tax policy experts. It may be
too soon for major changes in tax policy during 2007, but these hearings
offer a useful guide to the latest thinking and the likely arguments to
be deployed in coming debates. |
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Health Care Costs - Rising Again
If you ask business owners
about their biggest gripe, the high cost of health insurance generally
ranks near the top. Unfortunately, it appears that the problem continues
to get worse. A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds that the costs
of employer-provided health insurance rose by an average of 6.1 percent
last year. While this is lower than last year’s hike (7.7%), it’s still
a hefty increase. Overall, 177 million people are covered under
employer-provided health plans, and sixty percent of businesses offer
health benefits to some of their employees. The number of firms offering
health insurance has been dropping rapidly. In 2000, sixty-nine percent
of firms offered such coverage. These figures vary greatly when we
examine the size of employers. In larger firms (those with over 200
employees), 99% of firms provide health benefits. In smaller firms (with
3-9 employees, only 45% of companies provide them. |
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New Report on Labor Productivity
While the US may suffer from
high health insurance costs and other challenges, American businesses
and workers are still doing some things right. A new International Labor
Organization (ILO) report finds that the US still leads the world in
labor productivity. The US workforce provides by far the greatest value
added per worker ($63,885) than any other economy in the world. The next
closest competitor, Ireland, generates $55,986 value added per person
employed. America’s productivity edge has many causes, but one key
factor is that Americans work longer hours. If hours worked are taken
into account, Norway slightly outperforms the US. Not surprisingly, East
Asia has shown the greatest recent increases in labor productivity. In
that region, the value added per worker has doubled over the past
decade. Yet, this strong performance has still only moved East Asia’s
labor productivity up to 1/5 (up from 1/8 in 1996) of the level found in
developed economies. |
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New Programs for Veteran Entrepreneurs
The Veterans Corporation, a
Federally-chartered non-profit supporting veteran business owners, has
announced a new program to seed veteran entrepreneur support efforts
across the US. The new Veteran Entrepreneurship Grant program will
provide grants of up to $50,000 for organizations who have designed
innovative initiatives that help veterans start new businesses or that
help entrepreneurs who need to prepare their firms and employees for
potential military deployments. The grants are for service
organizations, not for individuals. |
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China gets a lot of attention when it comes to the topic of intellectual property - from its less-than stellar historical track record to its recent attempts to modernize the system. It will also be the center of attention this week at a two-day program for entrepreneurs and corporate executives in Kansas City, Missouri. Topics include: China’s laws and regulations that may affect how a business protects and enforces its intellectual property; how best to protect business assets to avoid intellectual property problems in the first place; how to recognize when an intellectual property asset has been infringed; what to do if infringement occurs; and, what the U.S. government is doing to improve the intellectual property protection and enforcement environment in China. The conference is part of a series by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to assist U.S. companies in protecting and enforcing their intellectual property rights and protecting their products from counterfeiting and piracy. Visit www.uspto.gov and view more information about the Kansas City conference -- or recently-held conferences in Portland, OR and Raleigh, NC. |
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The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship is an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving entrepreneurship around the world. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. |
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National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
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stories © 2007 The Public Forum Institute
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