National Summit Arrives Amid Economic Trouble

JEFF KAROUB

DETROIT (AP) — The country's economic troubles already were brewing when organizers announced in September that business and other leaders would gather here to craft a plan for keeping the U.S. competitive in manufacturing, energy, technology and environmental efforts.

But few predicted the plunge to follow: Banks failed, stocks plunged, homes foreclosed and two once-mighty U.S. automakers landed in bankruptcy court. Congress has poured billions into hopeful fixes, and the new president has made it a personal mission to right the U.S. ship.

So, where does that leave the three-day National Summit, which starts Monday and brings more than 90 leaders from the public and private sectors to the especially hard-hit Motor City? The answer: scaled back but no less determined to do something.

"The need is more crucial now," said Tom Dekar, a vice chairman of accounting and consulting firm Deloitte LLP, which helped create the conference.

"I think we may be where we are because we did not have the right policy set in each of those topic areas," he said. "Had we had a better set of policies in the industrial sector, had we looked at automotive market as a market ... we might not be where we are today."