The Federal budget battle, with prospects of a government shutdown too close to call for days on end, have made me more and more furious about our inability to keep our eye on the biggest ball of all:  America’s competitiveness in a global economy.  Without it business and economic growth with be stagnant, keeping our country at risk for chronically high unemployment and underemployment.  We can’t just blame the politicians and partisan bickering for the heat of the debate.  They get rewarded with votes at the polls for their self-aggrandizing sound bites.

The real issue comes down to this:  not enough Americans are paying attention to the dangers of lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to innovation.  A study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) on Global Innovation and Competitiveness found that the United States came in 40th – “dead last” – in the countries and regions studied in terms of progress in developing innovation-based economies.  Where is our passion and fighting spirit to demand that our members of Congress focus on getting us back to #1 so the American dream doesn’t disappear.
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