Has America lost its competitive edge?

That's what I've been reading recently. Authors have cited the ballooning trade and fiscal deficits, thousands of jobs being outsourced to India and China, and rising anti-Americanism throughout the world.

I respectfully disagree with the doom and gloom.

America retains its key competitive edge: it is overwhelmingly the best place to innovate and start new entrepreneurial businesses. Despite major efforts by other countries to foster new startups, they are not able to duplicate the fertile business environment of the United States.

The reason is they cannot duplicate a variety of factors that come together uniquely in America. For lack of a better term, they cannot duplicate the American culture.

First, governments outside of the United States often suffocate new businesses with oppressive regulations and fees. Entrepreneurs must spend large amounts of money and a great deal of time simply getting the necessary licenses, permissions, inspections and myriad government approvals before they can begin.

Oppressive government rules and regulations are the most suffocating in countries that need new businesses the most: newly developing economies. These governments are still emerging from years of socialist or communist rule, during which government officials had great power and prestige. They often demand "inspection fees," "licensing fees" and a host of other payments that pay for the bureaucracy. There is no incentive for the entrenched powers to change the system.

Outside the United States, there is often an overwhelming attitude that government is the solution to any and all problems. In the United States we have a culture that is more suspicious of government. As a result, government is smaller and less powerful than elsewhere.

Second, we have a culture that admires the maverick. We love to see a new startup business take on business giants and do well. In other countries, the business leaders are politically more powerful and use government to block new competition. In addition, the political climate is one that protects entrenched businesses because the unions of those businesses are powerful and demand political protection from new competitors.

Under the guise of saving jobs, foreign governments subsidize or protect outmoded and inefficient ways of doing business. The net effect, though, is to squelch entrepreneurs with new and efficient ways of doing business. In most countries, no one can take on the government in court and win. In America, it happens all the time.

Third, we are more tolerant of differences in income and wealth. Many countries have progressive tax rates, with the highest rates ranging from 60 percent to more than 90 percent. In the United States, the highest tax rate is currently 35 percent. This tolerance creates greater incentives for entrepreneurs to accept the enormous risk involved in starting a new company.

It also means that investors are willing to take on the enormous risk of investing in new startups because their returns are not taxed away. The United States has billions of dollars of privately managed money that is aggressively seeking out and funding new entrepreneurs. Nowhere else can entrepreneurs find funding so abundantly available or easier to access.

Finally, American culture is generally business friendly. Entrepreneurs who do well and create new products are honored, donate heavily to charitable causes and are leaders in the community. Although there are many groups who attack business, in general our culture is one that respects the jobs that business creates.

No, America is not losing its edge. It is still the destination of choice of the world's best entrepreneurs.