Dow Chemical CEO: Countries Are Competing Like Companies
March 03 2011 - 4:17PM
Dow Jones News
China, Germany, Australia and other countries are spending
trillions of dollars to boost their high-technology manufacturing
industries, putting pressure on rival industries in the U.S. where
government support has been limited, the top executive of Dow
Chemical Co. (DOW) said Thursday.
"Countries compete like companies now," said Andrew Liveris,
speaking at a conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., sponsored by The
Wall Street Journal. He added that governments, particularly in
Asia, are paying up in an effort to create more high-paying jobs
and boost their economies.
The U.S. government must catch up with high-level investments to
retain industries that were developed in the U.S., said Liveris,
who has written a book about U.S. manufacturing policy titled,
"Make it in America: The Case for Re-Inventing the Economy."
Already, a steady stream of suppliers to various U.S. industries
has been migrating away to countries that offer more generous
incentives, creating attrition for U.S. industry, he said.
"If we do not do anything, the unintended consequence is that we
will outsource eventually innovation, which would be death by 1,000
cuts," said Liveris, a native Australian who has been chief
executive of Midland, Mich.-based Dow since 2004.
Liveris said that government policies aimed at building up
profitable industries don't require excessive bureaucracy, or "big
government."
"You should have a smart government, an efficient government,"
he said. "Why are we working on 10% of the problem all the time? We
should be working on the whole problem all the time."
Liveris warned that the U.S. could stand to lose globally if the
government doesn't act quickly to invest in job creation.
"Having a jobless recovery is going to cripple this nation," he
said. "We've got to toughen up, we've got to take on the hard
conversations."
-By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6468;
cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com
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