Business Roundtable President John Engler has a column in today's Washington Times opinion section, looking a year ahead to Election Day 2012, "What candidates need to know: U.S. business must be allowed to compete."

Excerpt:

[After] Election Day, candidates get to take a break from the electoral competition (at least until the next campaign two or four years away). For U.S.-based companies, the global competition never ends. Other national governments and companies relentlessly work together to create attractive, competitive business climates in their countries.

Business Roundtable (BRT) calls on candidates to recognize this global reality when developing their campaign platforms and, once elected, to vote accordingly. An uncompetitive U.S. economy will struggle to generate the economic growth needed to boost private-sector employment.

The United States must respond on all fronts with policies to restructure the U.S. tax system, restrain regulatory excess, expand exports, develop domestic energy resources and promote skills-oriented education. Candidates who embrace those priorities will find broad support from business.

In an election where "jobs" will be the preeminent issue, BRT's Engler highlights corporate tax reform and regulatory restraint as imperatives for economic growth and private-sector hiring.