What's wrong with the priorities?

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: Editorial

On almost a daily basis, it seems as if we watch as our elected officials in Washington, D.C.--in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate--debate endlessly over the nitty-gritty of which new tax to bestow upon the nation's businesses. Revenue is sorely needed to feed the bulging deficit as well as to fund the new entitlement programs our officials constantly support, which have contributed to the largest deficit in the history of the United States.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

On a recent morning, I caught some of the dialogue on CNBC regarding how much to tax carried interest and profits on private equity and venture capital investors--the risk-takers who create jobs. It occurred to me the enormous amount of nonproductive time that is being spent by our lawmakers in Washington, currently pontificating on the pending financial regulations, all 1,200 or so pages of them, that likely won't address one problem of the crisis that led to the meltdown.

With a persistent nearly 10-percent unemployment rate, why are they spending so much valuable time on things that will not create one job or grow one new business? Shouldn't this be their job one? What's wrong with their priorities?

Instead of holding hearings by bringing in the brightest minds to discuss economic growth strategies, our lawmakers are focusing on witch hunts, looking to blame and point fingers for past transgressions. Not so--or not so obvious--for, say, China, the subject of our cover story, "China: The Next Global Leader?" Are the current U.S. priorities undermining our future economic leadership?

China is not sitting still while the U.S. is tinkering with paybacks and tax schemes. China is quietly moving in the direction of becoming the economic powerhouse, and the U.S. is barely holding on to the status quo--or worse, relinquishing its...