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Brunell Discusses Washington’s Competitiveness |
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Written On: December 05, 2007 |
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Written By: Richard Davis |
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FEDERAL WAY--Speaking to the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce today, Association of Washington Business President Don Brunell said Washington's future depends upon business being globally cost competitive and our state making necessary investments.
Brunell, a member of Gov. Gregoire's Global Competitiveness Council, said costs matter and countries with lower production costs have a competitive advantage. "With today's manufacturing technologies that have spread across the world, the differences between quality products made in the U.S. as compared to other countries has narrowed significantly. Therefore, the countries with the lower production costs have a distinct market advantage and they are attracting manufacturing facilities."
Washington is a high cost state, Brunell said. "We must find ways to mitigate some of those costs because our region no longer has the advantage of low cost, reliable power."
AWB, the state's chamber of commerce whose 6,600 members employ more than 600,000 in Washington's private workforce, is working to control health care inflation, eliminate costly and time-consuming regulations at all levels of government, to lower taxes and government fees, and workers comp and unemployment insurance rates.
At the same time, AWB feels Washington needs to allocate more money for transportation, water projects and community colleges and universities. "Right now, many of key our roads and highways are in gridlock and we are rapidly running out of water for agriculture, fish and people. Without added water storage capacity, our state's economy will be stymied."
As for education, AWB believes our state needs to stay with high academic standards for the K-12 system. "A high school diploma needs to mean something other than recognition that a student has attended school for 16 years. Our academic standards need to improve so the state spends less money on remedial education in our community and technical colleges and four-year universities. We are simply re-teaching things students should have learned before graduating from high school."
Brunell concluded that Washington’s economy seems to be rebounding so there are positive signs on the horizon. "For the long-term good, we need to address education, infrastructure and costs. It is expensive and painful, but necessary."
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