Council President: Secretary Paulson to be Commended Following Conference on Competitiveness

WASHINGTON—Council on Competitiveness President Deborah L. Wince-Smith made the following statement today after participating in a U.S. Treasury Department conference on competitiveness.

“I would like to commend Treasury Secretary Paulson for his tremendous leadership and vision in tackling the critical issues facing U.S. business in the global marketplace. The Council and its members look forward to continuing to work with Secretary Paulson in the future to ensure enhanced U.S. productivity and the future prosperity of all Americans. The United States must work to strengthen its competitive position by aggressively reigning in burdensome regulation and the costly threat of litigation. Our small and mid-sized entrepreneurial companies are the engine of U.S. job growth. On average, small firms spend more than 42 times as much as the largest firms to comply with regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Moreover, America’s tort litigation system is by far the most expensive in the world, equaling 2.2 percent of GDP in 2003. These are serious barriers to competitiveness.”