Business execs blame political system for US decline

Top business leaders are pessimistic about U.S. competitiveness in a new survey out Wednesday from Harvard Business School, and they are pointing their fingers at the political system. 

HBS collected detailed responses from 10,000 alumni in October and found that 71 percent see the United States declining in competitiveness over the next three years. Not surprisingly, manufacturers were the most pessimistic.

The second most popular reason for the negative views is the perception that the U.S. political system is unable to pass effective laws. 

Fully 60 percent of those surveyed said the U.S. political system is worse than average and that politics was the second highest reason for a lack of competitiveness behind a broken tax code.

“In the eyes of survey respondents, government officials in America are not doing their part to lay the groundwork for U.S. competitiveness,” the survey concludes.

Of the respondents, 1,700 were personally involved in deciding whether to move U.S. operations offshore, and in two-thirds of the scenarios, work was moved abroad, the survey states.