Dell: Stimulus package can be improved

The economic stimulus package going through Congress has provisions that could start a trade war and fails to address US competitiveness, Dell's chairman and CEO Michael Dell said Tuesday. A provision requiring projects funded by the stimulus package to use U.S.-made equipment and materials could prompt complaints to the World Trade Organization and could lead other countries to erect trade barriers on U.S. products, said Michael Dell. "You run the risk of protectionism," Dell said at a Northern Virginia Technology Council event. "Trade wars are very, very dangerous, particularly in the economic situation we find ourselves in right now." Dell also told his audience that another major concern he has with the stimulus package is that it largely fails to address U.S. competitiveness with the rest of the world. Congress should focus more on improving the U.S. education system, cutting corporate tax rates, and allowing U.S. companies to hire foreign workers, he said.