Competitiveness

Right now, thanks to some potshots from the citizens groups of the liberal persuasion, those close to Vice President Quayle are cackling with delight. It's as if a curse has been lifted, they say. If Mr. Quayle is such an insignificant featherweight, how come he's catching so much flak for leading the Council on Competitiveness, one of those White House spinoffs made to keep vice presidents alert and out of trouble? President Bush, you may recall, headed a couple of similar efforts in his veep days.

The 1988 presidential campaign has already started, in a vague and amorphous way. And it already has its first vague and amorphous issue. That issue is how to improve America's "competitiveness" in the international economy. President Reagan, who is not running in 1988, is expected to place it at the top of his 1987 agenda in his State of the Union Message on Tuesday night. "It's the domestic issue for the foreseeable future," says Democratic presidential aspirant Bruce Babbitt of Arizona.

"Competitiveness" is one of the great issues of the 1988 presidential race. Every candidate is for it; we are told we've got to face up to the threat of foreign competition or the end may be in sight. It is relevant, then, to ask: "How are we doing?" The old car commercials used to exclaim "Ask the man who owns one. " In effect, that is what Business Month magazine has done. They commissioned a polling firm to conduct what is probably the most comprehensive survey ever conducted of American chief executive officers.

Readers will hardly be shocked to learn that we're no fans of the misnamed Council on Competitiveness that's being run out of the Vice President's office. If Dan Quayle's little outfit - the heir to the regulatory relief task force that President Bush headed when he was Vice President - was really in the business of competitiveness, it would be about building up America's skilled workforce, its human capital. But it's not. Instead, it's functioning as a back door for all sorts of monied interests - polluters, real estate lobbies, etc. - to present their cases, especially those that have lost in the more open forums of government.

Competition is a concept the average American grasps without explanation. People who have made an unofficial national holiday of the contest between two football teams on Super Bowl Sunday tune in to the notion that the country itself is engaged in a struggle for economic survival. So it is not surprising that the set of issues embodied in the word competitiveness has emerged at the center of the 1988 political debate. It is as natural as the Redskins' rout of the Broncos. But it is still a development of significance.

Lee A. Iacocca told the nation's governors yesterday that their efforts to enhance America's competitiveness in the international economy, while admirable, were unlikely to have significant impact without a dramatic shift in policy at the federal level. "Today I see 50 states fighting, really fighting, for jobs," Iacocca, the chief executive of Chrysler Corp., said during the formal opening session of the annual summer meeting of the National Governors Association. "But I don't see that same kind of fighting spirit in Washington.

Last year, average U.S. wages in manufacturing, continuing their alarming slide, fell to 14th in the world - this from a new study by the respected Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft in Cologne, Germany. At $14.92 per hour in direct pay and benefits, they ranked below those in almost every industrialized country, including Japan at $15.96, Italy at $18.41 and Germany at $23.38, a consequence of the sinking dollar and another sign of U.S. decline. Some would argue, of course, that lower wages are not necessarily bad. Indeed, it has been a tenet of Republican policy that wages - from the minimum wage to skilled labor contracts - should be kept low, on the theory that low wages promote investment.

On a recent balmy afternoon, Tim McGrory watched as his 14-year-old daughter, Amanda, whooshed toward him - helmet bobbing, braces flashing, arms pumping. "I can't stop!" Amanda McGrory screamed, guiding her racing wheelchair toward her father, who stopped the front spinning wheel with his foot. Tim McGrory remained calm for a father who said he has never quite gotten used to his daughter's chosen sport, where she travels at speeds of up to 30 m.p.h. with little protection except for her helmet.

Rod Johnson has always worn his baseball heart on his sleeve, whether it was as an all-American player at Temple University, later as a professional in the Cincinnati Reds farm system, or as the coach of the Spring City and Paoli American Legion teams. To say that Johnson is competitive would be an understatement. But that competitiveness is something that Johnson is proud of, because it comes from his father, who recently died after a long battle with cancer. The Rev. Robert Johnson was 65 years old when he finally succumbed on June 20. "People would see me literally running into walls as a player and then exhibiting such competitiveness as coach, and they'd wonder where did I get that from," Rod Johnson said.

President Bush and Congress have declared war on recession. But they are fighting the wrong war and, as in last week's tax cut jousting, both sides are using the wrong weapons. Though the recession may be receding, the real weaknesses in the economy are structural and not amenable to quick fixes. Basically, the real war is over economic competitiveness; the trouble with fighting this real war is that it has been a loser politically. Competitiveness is not a tidy subject that readily captures the public's imagination.

Verizon Wireless strikes a spectrum deal with Comcast. Comcast launches Streampix to compete with Netflix. Netflix complains that Comcast's monthly data caps give Streampix an unfair advantage. Sony drops plans for a virtual cable-TV service, also blaming data caps. Verizon says DSL customers can't save money by canceling phone service and relying on Internet calling. It's hard to keep up with all the telecommunications headlines lately without getting a bit dizzy. But there's a key thread connecting these recent stories that's worth paying attention to. All involve threats to the idea of the Internet as an open, level, and competitive playing field.

Win a student competition, and you're likely to get a bit of money and a lot of accolades. Often, the most over-the-top and impractical idea scores first place. But in the last few years, corporate sponsors are taking a new tack: Welcome to Student Design Competition 2.0, where producing work that others want matters. That means instead of working in isolation and presenting a surprise design to a roomful of skeptical judges, teams are schooled in production, sourcing, and salability.

When the history of gaming in Philadelphia is written, developer Bart Blatstein deserves a mention in the prologue. In 1986, Blatstein bought a waterfront parcel on the Delaware River for $2.3 million, an investment many wrote off as foolhardy. Eight years later, the state was abuzz with rumors of riverboat gambling. Casino operators were lining up at Blatstein's door, trying to pry the land from him. Bally's got the 22-acre parcel for more than $60 million and, through a series of transactions, passed it on to local investors in the Foxwoods Casino deal.

In this city, it's not often you can implement a good idea without getting bogged down in bureaucratic mumbo jumbo or political mishmash. Let's face it, simple and effective is not something Philadelphia does well, what with its haze of antiquated agencies, undermining union obstacles, and pat-down political patronage. Too often, Philly is where good ideas go to die. That's why the idea the University of Pennsylvania had three years ago to have its students participate in an on-campus competition to develop practical public policy plans for the city is so refreshing.

Bill O'Brien said some nice things about the three players vying to become the starting quarterback at Penn State for the 2012 season. He liked how they have competed and progressed, and that they have been enjoyable to be around. But as much as the Nittany Lions' new head coach wants to see one or two QBs move out from the pack by the end of next week's Blue-White Game, it's not happening yet. "Hopefully for the next eight practices, a couple of guys will separate themselves," O'Brien said on the Big Ten coaches' conference call Wednesday, a few hours before the start of the eighth of the 15 spring practice sessions on campus.

Choosing 48 quilts from 667 entries at Wayne Art Center's major international biennial competition felt like "attempting to separate the mastiffs from the Pomeranians," declared one of the show's three blue-ribbon judges, David McFadden, chief curator of New York's Museum of Arts and Design. This Art Quilt Elements 2012 exhibition is the 10th in a series that's fast becoming a regional classic and is now the Wayne Art Center's biggest draw. Other impressive numbers: More entries than ever came from more states (24 are participating)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The three quarterbacks battling for Penn State's No. 1 job probably were too busy absorbing rapid-fire instruction from new head coach Bill O'Brien on the team's first day of spring practice to realize there was someone watching from the sidelines who might have competed for the position. Former Maryland quarterback Danny O'Brien did his best to remain incognito on the sideline, wearing a borrowed Penn State jacket to deal with the brisk northwest wind, while continuing his evaluation process to determine which school would best fit his talents for his final two years of eligibility.

John Green was in prison when he got the word - eight letters spelling S-c-r-a-b-b-l-e that he says helped him turn his life around. "Robbery, burglary, I was no good as a kid," said Green, who spent 24 of his 51 years behind bars. But prison changed all that. While incarcerated, the Philadelphia native learned how to play Scrabble and how to dominate other players in the game. He spent so much time playing it that when he left prison, his family encouraged him to join the National Scrabble Association.

It may be nit-picking, but it's a question that needs asking. With so many new players on this year's Union roster - 13 to be exact - most under the age of 25 and with no MLS experience, one has to wonder . . . Why would the technical staff find it wise not to play any preseason exhibitions against MLS competition? Now, I know soccer is soccer. You either know how to ball or you don't. But don't tell me there aren't varying styles of the game. I'm sure Gabriel Farfan, groomed in the youth system for Club America of the Mexican first division, can attest that the styles of soccer in Mexico and in MLS are night and day. Gabriel Gomez implied this when asked Wednesday in the aftermath of Monday's 3-1 loss in season opener.

After more than a decade as one of the Philadelphia area's best-known eaters, Bill Simmons has cleaned the barbecue sauce from his chubby fingers and stopped stuffing his face, at least competitively. "It was just time, time to move on to something else," said Simmons, better known as El Wingador, five-time champion of Wing Bowl, that spectacle of gustatory excess held annually at the Wells Fargo Center. At the suggestion of his friend Kevin "Heavy Keavy" O'Donnell, a Wing Bowl champ who was retiring from competition, the Woodbury Heights resident took up the cudgel in 1999.