Most nations would be thrilled to have the fourth-most competitive economy in the world. There are nearly 200 countries in the world, after all, so fourth is pretty good!
But not by U.S. standards. We have the world’s largest economy, and we also want to have the world’s most competitive economy. And we did just two short years ago. In 2008, the World Economic Forum, based in Geneva, ranked the United States as having the most competitive economy in the world. But in 2009, our nation fell to No. 2, behind Switzerland.
And this year, our slide continues. For 2010, the World Economic Forum has ranked the U.S. economy as only the fourth-most competitive among the nations. Switzerland remains at No. 1, followed by Sweden at No. 2 and Singapore at No. 3.
Why?
Well, as you might guess, it has a lot to do with Washington’s extremely irresponsible deficit spending.
For instance, in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, Congress – with President Barack Obama’s approval – spent well over a trillion dollars more than it took in from already too-high tax rates. We must pay literally hundreds of billions of dollars in interest annually on our massive national debt. All of that money must be pulled out of the current economy in taxes – which the president wants to raise – or it must be borrowed, saddling future generations with back-breaking debt.
Both current taxes and future debt payments represent money that cannot be invested productively by the private sector. That is why we are losing our competitive edge as a nation.
The World Economic Forum mentioned in particular the huge, $862 billion “stimulus” – which has failed to keep down unemployment as the president said it would before Congress passed it.
Figuring out a way to get out from under the stimulus “will be an important step in reinforcing the country’s competitiveness,” the forum noted. It “cited huge deficits, rising government debt and declining public faith in politicians and corporate ethics” as causes for America’s declining competitiveness, The Associated Press reported.
Sadly, although it is obvious that our country is on the wrong economic trajectory, there seems to be great unwillingness in Washington to recognize when a policy is failing and to reverse course.