I was reminded of Moynihan’s glaring misstep on welfare when I read Dorgan’s new book, “Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain-Dead Politics Are Selling Out America.” No, Dorgan’s book did not remind me of Moynihan’s astute analysis. But it did remind me of how someone can look intently at a problem and still completely miss the obvious solution.

Dorgan is worked up — and I do mean worked up — about globalization; specifically, about its impact on the United States in terms of manufacturing jobs moving overseas and the trade “deficit.” Dorgan spends precious little time actually analyzing the economic changes behind this phenomenon, but quickly moves to blaming “exploited workers and slave labor in third-world nations,” NAFTA and subsequent trade agreements, the FDA (yes), and the political influence of big business in Washington.

Dorgan’s solutions range from tax and tariff increases, trade quotas, national commissions and stronger (!) labor unions. In other words, protectionism, higher taxes, more regulation and even bigger government.

But, like Moynihan, Dorgan entirely misses the obvious solution to the problem.

Jobs and companies and industries are not simply being drawn overseas — they are being actively pushed overseas by misguided U.S. policy, and there is no greater culprit than the exorbitant U.S. corporate tax rate, which at 39.3 percent is the highest of all OECD nations (our competitors). In fact, the average corporate tax rate among OECD countries is 29.2 percent — more than 25 percent lower than ours.

It should be no wonder that U.S. companies are moving their operations overseas. They have to compete in the global market with companies that are paying significantly lower taxes than U.S. companies pay. The playing field is significantly tilted against them, and no amount of superior management, technological innovation or greater productivity can lower the corporate tax rate.

Our policymakers know our corporate tax rate is much too high, which is why the code is filled with devices designed to mitigate this handicap, such as depreciation and various tax credits and deductions. But the companies and industries that are carrying our economy in the information age don’t actually gain much benefit from these devices, and still end up paying a very high effective tax rate.

In fact, a recent study by the C.D. Howe Institute finds that U.S. companies still pay the fourth-highest effective tax rate among OECD countries, even after taking advantage of every tax credit, exemption and deduction available to them.

Some may argue that the U.S. can’t afford to cut the corporate tax rate, because of the loss of revenue. But the data simply don’t support a relationship between high tax rates and high tax revenue. In fact, while the U.S. ranks first among OECD countries in its corporate tax rate, the U.S. is 15th in corporate taxes collected, according to the Tax Foundation.

The U.S. should reduce its corporate income tax rate to something less than 25 percent in order to maintain the global competitiveness of American industry. But even such a large reduction in the corporate tax rate would only put American companies on an equal playing field with their overseas competitors, not at a competitive advantage. To give U.S. companies a global advantage, the corporate tax rate should be reduced to 20 percent or lower.

Dorgan is right about one thing — it does matter that the United States is losing jobs, companies and entire industries to our global competitors. And as China, Brazil and India continue to develop, this trend will only accelerate. But Dorgan’s solutions are exactly the wrong ones.

Instead, policy makers must wake up to the reality of global tax competition, and stop driving productive resources overseas. The best step we could take right now to keep our economy globally competitive would be to reduce and simplify the burden of the U.S. corporate tax system.

Tom Giovanetti is the president of the Institute for Policy Innovation, a Lewisville, Texas-based think tank.