Debt, Taxes Taking Toll on U.S. Competitiveness, Dell, IBM CEOs Say

As mounting public deficits dominate discourse in Washington
and in state capitals throughout the country, leaders from the technology
industry said they are eager to help address the problem. The federal
government can save $1 trillion over the next decade, claimed Dell CEO
Michael Dell and IBM Chairman and CEO
Samuel Palmisano, by applying homegrown expertise, technology and
organizational innovation to its information networks and management practices.

The discussion, which took place during a technology and public policy
program hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),
drew on an October 2010 Technology CEO
Council report, "One Trillion Reasons: How Commercial Best Practices to
Maximize Productivity Can Save Taxpayer Money and Enhance Government Services."

Dell and Palmisano argued that the U.S. government needs to spend less time
on partisan bickering and more time addressing issues that affect the country’s
technological competitiveness, highlighting the U.S. deficit, high corporate
tax rates (the U.S. rate is more than 30 percent, compared with as little as 10
percent in other countries) and the country’s unsatisfactory education system.

Palmisano added that the country’s citizens are lacking a clear directive from
Uncle Sam on fostering innovation and talents required by the high-tech
industries powering the world economy. "What is missing is someone saying,
‘We’re going to take the country from here to there’," he argued.
"Then go out and sell the case. If you can’t sell and people say, ‘That’s
not what we want,’ then we have what we have today."

For more, read the eWeek article: Dell, IBM Say Taxes, Debt Undermining U.S. Competitiveness.l