US slips from No. 1 to also-ran in global economic rankings
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The United States is losing its competitive edge.
So says a new report from the World Economic Forum which found the
U.S. slipping in dozens of areas compared with just a few years ago.
Perhaps most troubling is the conclusion that since 2008, the United
States has slid from No. 1 in the world in "global competitiveness" to
No. 7 this year.
Out-ranking America are: Switzerland, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, the
Netherlands and Germany.
Sure, it's just a number. But the WEF's ranking takes into account a
broad range of factors, from debt to corruption to regulation to red
tape to education to health care.
And virtually across the board, the U.S. is falling behind.
"The slide in the global competitiveness report is almost certainly
due to ... policy-related factors," James Gwartney, economics
professor at Florida State University, told FoxNews.com. Gwartney,
with dozens of other institutes, has co-authored a separate report on
economic freedom set to be unveiled next week.
The World Economic Forum study reflected both the slack in the U.S.
economy from the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession, and
the increasing anxiety over the nation's skyrocketing debt, among
other factors.
In the latest report, the U.S. ranked at number 140 out of 144 on its
government deficit as a percentage of GDP. The U.S. ranked at 97 four
years ago.
The ranking on "public trust in politicians" has likewise fallen, from
41 to 54. The ranking on government wastefulness fell from 67 to 76.
On government regulation, it fell from 50 to 76.
Gwartney said it's unclear whether the U.S. can turn things around
anytime soon. With the debt hitting $16 trillion this month and no
plan in place to actually reduce it, Gwartney called that figure
"nothing more than future taxes" that will eventually have to be paid.
The fiscal outlook for the country is decidedly dim, with a raft of
tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in at the end of the year
without congressional intervention.