Is the U.S. Losing Its Competitive Edge?

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Economy: Our slip is showing. The United States now ranks fourth among all nations in competitiveness, down from first just two years ago. Not surprisingly, it's government — not business — that's to blame.

The annual rankings put out by the World Economic Forum are comprehensive — evaluating 139 countries in 12 broad categories, including strength of institutions, infrastructure, health, education, innovation, regulation, financial markets and innovation, among others.

The idea is to use data — along with surveys of business executives around the world — to gauge just how competitive each country is when compared with the others.

This has not been a good two years for the U.S. As recently as 2008, we were viewed as the most competitive economy in the world. Last year, we slipped to No. 2. This year, we're down to No. 4 behind Switzerland, Singapore and Sweden.

Why did we lose our spot at the top? Broadly speaking, the Geneva-based forum report cites "a weakening of the United States' public and private institutions, as well as lingering concerns about the state of its financial markets."

The group stressed that the U.S. remains innovative with a flexible labor market and outstanding higher education. But its soaring deficits, burgeoning debts and declining public confidence in the nation's leaders and businesses are dragging it down. Finding a way to end the massive federal stimulus of the last two years will help boost U.S. competitiveness, the WEF also said.

The report doesn't come right out and say it, but it might as well: Not only is Obamanomics not working, it's doing material damage to America's economic well-being.

What else can you surmise about our sharp drop over the past two years? Clearly, the failed stimulus and massive debt buildup are seen as major threats to our prosperity. And no wonder, given recent items like this from CNSNews.com:

"In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.526 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan." Or this from Reuters: "Projected U.S. economic growth for the rest of this year and next was revised down for a third month in a row by a panel of about 50 economists."

All this due to the $1 trillion-plus "stimulus" package, the $700 billion TARP bill, the dangerous socialization of health care and all the other tinkering by the Obamanauts.

Election '10: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may be king when it comes to betraying his party with an independent candidacy, but here comes Lisa Murkowski, the Alaskan princess of Republicans In Name Only. When you're the beneficiary of nepotism courtesy of an entrenched political machine, ...

The Left: Fidel Castro stunned the world this week by admitting socialism had failed in Cuba. The implication of the dictator's statement is unclear, but one thing isn't: Castro's sycophants have some explaining to do. Castro, now 84 and semi-retired, made a surprisingly lucid admission ...

'Reform': Democrats said the health care overhaul they forced on the country would bring down costs. Opponents argued that a federal takeover would cause costs to increase. Big surprise: The opponents were right. In a report that isn't getting the media attention it deserves, the Centers for ...

Hypocrisy: When the U.S. Army burned Bibles in Afghanistan, no one said a word. When churches burn around the world, crickets chirp. Burning Qurans in Florida is stupid and offensive, but so is the double standard. When President Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University, a Catholic ...

Americans, says Time magazine, are too dumb to appreciate the wonders of President Obama's $787 billion "stimulus" package. Gobsmacked by polls that show Americans don't believe government is smart enough to take money from taxpayers and give it to those it considers deserving, Time says: Voters ...

Posted By: Judith from Michigan(2685) on 9/9/2010 | 11:09 PM ET

Well, Mr O & Co. It seems you have some explaining to do. Two more years of this admin & we should be just about #7 or #8, maybe even lower. Is that the plan? You people in power are either incredibly stupid or incredibly evil. Ummm, Think I'll go with the second choice.

Posted By: niteski(1215) on 9/9/2010 | 10:55 PM ET

Loonie, OH Loonie? What do you have to say about them darn foreigners that think your boy is burying us.

Posted By: Serfdumb(3750) on 9/9/2010 | 10:01 PM ET

After liberal Dems elected the One, even Pravda declared we gave up on capitalism and accepted socialism - 'without so much as a whimper.' The 'european way' Der Spiegel discusses is an epic failure, hence austerity move to save economy, islamist invasion, bailouts from the US treasury and outsourcing of military. Without globalism and assistance from capitalist nations, much of europe would be, and should be, entirely bankrupt.

Posted By: Imprimis(240) on 9/9/2010 | 9:01 PM ET

What do you expect from a country that punishes success and rewards failure? To add insult to injury, CONgress wants more stimulus money - other peoples money - forced indentured servants. The only successful communist are those who want to live as communist and have made the choice to do so by being in the service of God, not government.

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