????美國(guó)的政治進(jìn)程還有希望嗎？上周，一群來(lái)自哈佛商學(xué)院（Harvard Business School）的教師參加了在美國(guó)首都華盛頓新聞博物館（Newseum）舉行的研討會(huì)。他們討論的結(jié)果是，美國(guó)政治進(jìn)程的前景非常渺茫。包括一位現(xiàn)任參議員和美國(guó)勞工總會(huì)與產(chǎn)業(yè)勞工組織（AFL-CIO）的政策主任在內(nèi)的一些華盛頓要人也出席了該活動(dòng)，他們也做出了同樣悲觀(guān)的判斷。

????如果你問(wèn)問(wèn)哈佛商學(xué)院畢業(yè)生的意見(jiàn)，你很可能也會(huì)得到同樣悲觀(guān)的回答。根據(jù)今年一份對(duì)10,000名哈佛商學(xué)院畢業(yè)生進(jìn)行的調(diào)查，美國(guó)的政治體系的得分比其他任何機(jī)構(gòu)都要低。約有80%的受訪(fǎng)者表示，華盛頓正在拖美國(guó)的后腿，導(dǎo)致美國(guó)在世界舞臺(tái)上競(jìng)爭(zhēng)乏力。

????那么應(yīng)該怎樣應(yīng)對(duì)這種局面？哈佛商學(xué)院的教師們似乎采取了一種迂回戰(zhàn)術(shù)。他們最近發(fā)起了一個(gè)“美國(guó)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力項(xiàng)目”（the U.S. Competitiveness Project），主要研究在沒(méi)有美國(guó)政府的幫助下，企業(yè)可以自行采取哪些行動(dòng)來(lái)提高美國(guó)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力。不過(guò)他們也給政府出了一些點(diǎn)子。在上周的活動(dòng)中，美國(guó)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力項(xiàng)目的聯(lián)合主席邁克爾?波特和簡(jiǎn)?里夫金公布了一項(xiàng)計(jì)劃，以應(yīng)對(duì)波特所謂的“自二戰(zhàn)乃至更早以來(lái)，對(duì)美國(guó)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的最大威脅”。這個(gè)計(jì)劃的未來(lái)聽(tīng)起來(lái)似乎會(huì)碩果累累，不過(guò)關(guān)鍵還是在于如何讓果實(shí)從樹(shù)上掉下來(lái)。

????在哈佛教師們給出的建議表上，以下幾項(xiàng)首當(dāng)其沖：首先要放寬對(duì)技術(shù)工人的移民限制，簡(jiǎn)化稅收條例，消除漏洞，改善國(guó)家的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè)。此外還要制定一個(gè)具有可持續(xù)發(fā)展?jié)摿Φ念A(yù)算。在這一點(diǎn)上可以學(xué)習(xí)之前的鮑爾斯-辛普森計(jì)劃。該計(jì)劃本可以有效削減赤字，可惜最終還是慘遭擱淺。

????人們很難對(duì)這些提議表示反對(duì)。波特指出：“我們通過(guò)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人們?cè)谀承╊I(lǐng)域上存在廣泛的共識(shí)。”在好幾個(gè)議題，勞工和業(yè)界的意見(jiàn)甚至存在著很大的重合，這種情況就算在假設(shè)的條件下都很難實(shí)現(xiàn)。哈佛商學(xué)院院長(zhǎng)尼丁?諾利亞表示：“我們本來(lái)以為勞工和業(yè)界會(huì)在這些問(wèn)題上存在重大分歧。”不過(guò)，廣泛的共識(shí)并不代表就能輕而易舉地催生立法。特拉華州的民主黨參議員克里斯?庫(kù)恩斯表示：“雖然一些領(lǐng)域存在共識(shí)，但要想在今天的國(guó)會(huì)推動(dòng)立法過(guò)關(guān)依然很困難?！?/p>

????究竟有多難，問(wèn)問(wèn)奧巴馬總統(tǒng)或白宮發(fā)言人約翰?貝納就明白了。據(jù)說(shuō)他們二人去年7月私下敲定了一個(gè)債務(wù)方案。不過(guò)提案剛一提交到立法程序，就立刻在一片口水聲中被打入了冷宮。此事直接導(dǎo)致了美國(guó)信用評(píng)級(jí)的降級(jí)，現(xiàn)在美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)又將針對(duì)提高債務(wù)限額發(fā)起新一輪投票，國(guó)會(huì)很可能再次上演一模一樣的劇情。商業(yè)界幾乎一致認(rèn)為，如果美國(guó)的主權(quán)債務(wù)違約，將會(huì)對(duì)美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)造成災(zāi)難性的影響。不過(guò)商業(yè)界的共識(shí)似乎不會(huì)對(duì)政界的談判產(chǎn)生太大影響。

????那么商界自己可以做些什么？哈佛的美國(guó)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力項(xiàng)目正在推動(dòng)企業(yè)界盡可能地承擔(dān)起責(zé)任。波特表示，這不僅僅是出于慈善的道義，更是由于一個(gè)強(qiáng)大的、有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的美國(guó)對(duì)全球經(jīng)濟(jì)有好處，同樣也對(duì)在全球經(jīng)濟(jì)中博弈的企業(yè)有好處。不過(guò)哈佛的這個(gè)工程對(duì)那些只想棄船自保的企業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō)并不劃算。

????Is there any hope for America's political process? Not much, was the answer from the group of Harvard Business School faculty gathered in Washington D.C.'s Newseum last week. Same thing from a panel of D.C. heavy hitters who also showed up for the event, including a sitting U.S. Senator and the director of policy for the AFL-CIO.

????You'll also likely get the same glum response if you ask Harvard's business grads. In a surveyreleased this year of 10,000 Harvard B-school graduates, the nation's political system received worse marks than any other institution. Some 80% of respondents said D.C. was holding the country back from competing on the world stage.

????What to do about it? Faculty members at the Harvard Business School seem to have taken an end-run approach. Their recent major initiative, the U.S. Competitiveness Project, focuses on what businesses can do to improve the United States' standing without Washington's help. But they have some ideas for government, too. At last week's event, the project's co-chairs, professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin, unpacked a plan to address what Porter calls the greatest threat to U.S. competitiveness since World War II or before. The agenda they are putting forward is laden with what sounds like low-hanging fruit -- the trick is getting any of those apples to fall from their trees.

????A few priorities topped Harvard's wish list: Ease immigration regulations for skilled workers. Simplify the tax code and eliminate loopholes. Improve the nation's infrastructure. And enact a sustainable budget, possibly one resembling the widely praised but dead-in-the-water Bowles-Simpson plan that would have slashed the deficit.

????It's hard to argue with these proposals. "We've found through our research that there are areas of wide consensus," Porter said. On several of the issues, there's even substantial overlap between labor and industry, an alliance that's hard to forge even in hypothetical terms. "These are divides that we had thought were important divides," says Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria. But wide agreement does not pave an easy path to legislation. "It's very difficult to move from areas of private consensus to actual passage in today's Congress," said Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware.

????Just ask President Obama or House Speaker John Boehner. The two men were said to have privately hashed out a debt deal last July, but the agreement quickly melted in the spotlight once it came time to legislate. The spectacle, which resulted in a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, seems likely to repeat itself this year as Congress moves toward another vote on raising the debt ceiling. There is near-universal consensus in the business world that it would be disastrous for the U.S. economy if the country were to default on its sovereign debt. However, agreement within the business world doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on negotiations so far.

????So what's the business community to do? Harvard is pushing for companies to take on as much social responsibility as they can bear. It's not for the sake of charity, Porter says. It's because a strong and competitive U.S. is good for the global economy as well as the businesses that are based there. The HBS project has determined that it's not cost-effective for companies to simply jump ship, either.