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02-11-05, 01:19 AM
U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Needs Greater Attention
GM Chairman Urges Enforcement of Fair Trade, Reforms to Legal System, Health Care
Rick Wagoner speech to the Economic Club of Chicago, February 10, 2005 (http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewmediaspeechdetail.do?domain=4&docid=11901)
CHICAGO - American business and government urgently need to endorse and enforce policies that will enhance U.S. manufacturers' ability to compete globally if the nation is to retain its economic leadership, General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said today.
"Business and government need to work together to address a number of important issues that put U.S. manufacturers at a severe disadvantage to overseas competition, the cumulative effect of many well-intentioned policies that now harm American manufacturing in general and, in particular, our nation's ability to compete effectively in the global marketplace," Wagoner told the Economic Club of Chicago.
Among the issues meriting attention, three of the most pressing facing U.S. manufacturers today are free and fair trade, the civil justice system and the nation's troubled health-care system, Wagoner said.
Wagoner urged the government to insist that Asian nations, particularly Japan, immediately and permanently stop intervening in currency markets, to allow the gradual depreciation of the dollar to continue.
"The massive size and frequency of Japan's intervention artificially weakens the yen, and in doing so provides a significant subsidy to Japan's exporters," Wagoner said.
Wagoner also said government and business need to work together to reform the civil justice system, in part by placing reasonable, common sense limits on excessive damage awards.
"Lawsuit abuse runs rampant in certain state courts thanks to an entrepreneurial plaintiffs' bar," he said. "The perverse result in a lot of these cases is the majority of the settlement goes to the plaintiffs' lawyers, not the injured party."
U.S. health-care costs have been increasing at double-digit rates for many years, accounting for about 15 percent of GDP in 2003. At the current rate of increase, health-care costs are projected to exceed 18 percent of GDP by 2012, which would be about 30 percent higher than the next-most-expensive nation. GM alone spent $5.2 billion on health care in 2004 for 1.1 million U.S. employees, retirees and dependents.
"The cost of health care in the United States is making American businesses very uncompetitive right now, versus our global counterparts," Wagoner said. "Failing to address the health-care crisis would be the worst kind of procrastination, the kind that places our children and grandchildren at risk, and threatens the health and global competitiveness of our nation's economy."
Wagoner said there is no single or simple solution to the crisis, that it will require a collaborative and creative approach by government, business, the health-care system and consumers to resolve it. As a nation, the United States must "bring all of our capabilities in quality, productivity and information technology to the health-care industry." He cited this week's announcement of an electronic "e-prescription" initiative by GM, Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler Corp. and the UAW as an example.
The nation also must find a way to provide affordable health-care coverage for all its citizens, support efforts to provide better information on the quality and efficiency of health-care providers so Americans can become better health-care consumers, and reduce the high inflation rate in health-care spending, particularly the excessively high cost of prescription drugs.
Wagoner said the only way to ensure the United States retains its manufacturing and economic leadership is to make it the best place in the world to do business.
"Today, we have the chance to impress the world all over again," he said. "And we'll do it by working to change policies that hamper our own competitiveness: By standing up to unfair currency manipulation, by reforming a legal system that no longer makes sense, by improving a health-care system in need of serious medicine."
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader since 1931. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 324,000 people around the world. It has manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in 200 countries. In 2004, GM sold nearly 9 million cars and trucks globally, up 4 percent and the second-highest total in the company's history. GM's global headquarters are at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com (http://www.gm.com/).
GM Chairman Urges Enforcement of Fair Trade, Reforms to Legal System, Health Care
Rick Wagoner speech to the Economic Club of Chicago, February 10, 2005 (http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewmediaspeechdetail.do?domain=4&docid=11901)
CHICAGO - American business and government urgently need to endorse and enforce policies that will enhance U.S. manufacturers' ability to compete globally if the nation is to retain its economic leadership, General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said today.
"Business and government need to work together to address a number of important issues that put U.S. manufacturers at a severe disadvantage to overseas competition, the cumulative effect of many well-intentioned policies that now harm American manufacturing in general and, in particular, our nation's ability to compete effectively in the global marketplace," Wagoner told the Economic Club of Chicago.
Among the issues meriting attention, three of the most pressing facing U.S. manufacturers today are free and fair trade, the civil justice system and the nation's troubled health-care system, Wagoner said.
Wagoner urged the government to insist that Asian nations, particularly Japan, immediately and permanently stop intervening in currency markets, to allow the gradual depreciation of the dollar to continue.
"The massive size and frequency of Japan's intervention artificially weakens the yen, and in doing so provides a significant subsidy to Japan's exporters," Wagoner said.
Wagoner also said government and business need to work together to reform the civil justice system, in part by placing reasonable, common sense limits on excessive damage awards.
"Lawsuit abuse runs rampant in certain state courts thanks to an entrepreneurial plaintiffs' bar," he said. "The perverse result in a lot of these cases is the majority of the settlement goes to the plaintiffs' lawyers, not the injured party."
U.S. health-care costs have been increasing at double-digit rates for many years, accounting for about 15 percent of GDP in 2003. At the current rate of increase, health-care costs are projected to exceed 18 percent of GDP by 2012, which would be about 30 percent higher than the next-most-expensive nation. GM alone spent $5.2 billion on health care in 2004 for 1.1 million U.S. employees, retirees and dependents.
"The cost of health care in the United States is making American businesses very uncompetitive right now, versus our global counterparts," Wagoner said. "Failing to address the health-care crisis would be the worst kind of procrastination, the kind that places our children and grandchildren at risk, and threatens the health and global competitiveness of our nation's economy."
Wagoner said there is no single or simple solution to the crisis, that it will require a collaborative and creative approach by government, business, the health-care system and consumers to resolve it. As a nation, the United States must "bring all of our capabilities in quality, productivity and information technology to the health-care industry." He cited this week's announcement of an electronic "e-prescription" initiative by GM, Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler Corp. and the UAW as an example.
The nation also must find a way to provide affordable health-care coverage for all its citizens, support efforts to provide better information on the quality and efficiency of health-care providers so Americans can become better health-care consumers, and reduce the high inflation rate in health-care spending, particularly the excessively high cost of prescription drugs.
Wagoner said the only way to ensure the United States retains its manufacturing and economic leadership is to make it the best place in the world to do business.
"Today, we have the chance to impress the world all over again," he said. "And we'll do it by working to change policies that hamper our own competitiveness: By standing up to unfair currency manipulation, by reforming a legal system that no longer makes sense, by improving a health-care system in need of serious medicine."
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader since 1931. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 324,000 people around the world. It has manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in 200 countries. In 2004, GM sold nearly 9 million cars and trucks globally, up 4 percent and the second-highest total in the company's history. GM's global headquarters are at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com (http://www.gm.com/).