U.S. Falls in Competitive Ranking for Fourth Year in a Row
The United States’ ability to compete on the global stage has fallen for the fourth year running as confidence in the country’s politicians continues to decline, an annual survey from the World Economic Forum found Wednesday.
Even though the world’s largest economy saw its overall competitiveness rise on the back of its status as a global innovation powerhouse, the Forum says the U.S.’s ranking has dropped two places to seventh this year. The Netherlands and Germany have moved ahead of the U.S. on the top 10 leaderboard.
The report found that some aspects of the U.S.’s political environment continue to raise concern among business leaders, “particularly the low public trust in politicians and a perceived lack of government efficiency.”
The Forum — which also hosts an annual gathering of global business and political leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos every January — ranks a country’s competitiveness according to factors such as the state of its infrastructure and its ability to foster innovation.
The survey comes just a day before President Barack Obama addresses the Democratic National Convention in his bid to defeat Republican candidate Mitt Romney in November’s election.
Watch senior economist at the World Economic Forum Jennifer Blanke discuss the ranking [via CNBC]:
A little over a year ago, the United States lost its “AAA” credit rating from Standard & Poor’s after a stand-off between Republicans and Democrats over the raising of the debt ceiling stoked fears of a potential debt default.
“We urge governments to act decisively by adopting long-term measures to enhance competitiveness and return the world to a sustainable growth path,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.
Switzerland tops the overall rankings of 144 economies in the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-13 for the fourth consecutive year, followed by Singapore. The Forum said Switzerland’s standing rests notably on its innovation and labor market efficiency, as well as the sophistication of its business sector.
Including Switzerland, six northern European countries make up the top 10. Others on the leaderboard include Hong Kong and Japan, while central African country Burundi brings up the rear.
Photo courtesy CNBC. Source: World Economic Forum
Though northern European countries have consolidated their positions since the financial crisis of 2008, the survey found that those in southern Europe, such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, continue to suffer from a host of economic problems, including poor access to financing and rigid labor markets. Greece is faring worst of Europe’s problem economies and is ranked at 96th.
“Persistent divides in competitiveness across regions and within regions, particularly in Europe, are at the origin of the turbulence we are experimenting today, and this is jeopardizing our future prosperity,” said Schwab.
Elsewhere, the Forum found that leading emerging economies are displaying different performances. China, at 29th place, has risen in the rankings and leads the group, while Brazil has moved up to 48th. However, others such as South Africa, India, and Russia have fallen.
Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.
Popular Stories
Report: Hofstra Student Was Shot, Killed by Cop Trying To Rescue Her 386 Comments
Sarah Palin Posts Pic of Alaska Snow: ‘Global Warming My Gluteus Maximus’ 382 Comments
White House: ‘Irrelevant Fact’ Where Obama Was During Benghazi 309 Comments
Bill Maher Mocks Tea Party Victims With Fake IRS Questions: State the ‘Approximate Location of Your Trailer Park’ 243 Comments
CNN Poll: Obama’s Approval Rating Unchanged Since Scandals Hit 193 Comments
Faith
- John Kerry Reportedly Had a Breakfast Meeting With Father of Gaza Flotilla 'Martyr' Last Week -- and There's Apparently Picture Evidence Read More
- 'Pedophile Protection': Rapist Takes Young Girl to Planned Parenthood for an Abortion to Hide His Crime Read More
-
Congressman: IRS Demanded to Know Content of Pro-Life Group's Prayers
Read More
-
You Criticized Obama: Famed Christian Radio Host Alleges Outrageous IRS Intimidation
186 Comments
-
Network Releases Statement on Pat Robertson's Controversial Advice to Cheated-On Women
163 Comments
Business
- This Map Shows the 'Riskiest' Places in the World 107 Comments
-
Krauthammer's Impressed With Obama's IRS Answers: He Makes Bill Clinton's Parsing Look Unsophisticated
Read More
-
Congressman: IRS Demanded to Know Content of Pro-Life Group's Prayers
Read More
- America off Limits: Soviet Tourists Were Banned from Visiting These Areas During the Cold War Read More
-
These Are the 4 Most Important Takeaways from Today's IRS Hearing
157 Comments
Technology
-
Woman Who Lost All Limbs to Flesh-Eating Bacteria Gets $200K Bionic Arms
Read More
-
Why Are These Zoo Keepers Baffled by This Anteaterâs Babies?
Read More
-
Largest Lunar Explosion in NASA History Caught on Video
135 Comments
-
Ever Wonder How It'd Look to Have Your Face Eaten by a Bear? Here's Your Answer
Read More
-
New Energy Secretary Named With Unanimous Confirmation
153 Comments
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (72)
ktmrider1
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 8:44pmjust like a song says, going forward in reverse
Report this comment
DisposableWorker
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 8:24pm. Let us create. Let us strive for the greatness that is in us. I have a large family. We are all united in this one belief: we are free, we won’t be enslaved for long. We desire to do great things and help others do great things too. Either become great with us or go somewhere else to lay about in your own vomit and feces. Be an actual human being; cut up that card. Don’t let somebody else own you. 16 jobs learned and mastered in 35 years, 4 careers come and gone. If a unremarkable old guy like me can do all that you can too!
Report this comment
RebelPatriot
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 8:54pmSurvival of the fittest does not always go to those who are stronger or smarter, instead survival of species is more greatly determined by the ability of the species to adapt and overcome their environment.
America is full of such individuals and is the key to the rise of our nation.
The demise of our nation has come from those who have earnestly gone out of their way to inhibit Americans from continuing to adapt to changes.
Report this comment
DisposableWorker
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 8:23pmACCOMPLISHED? Are you kidding us Dora?
Just get out of my way and stop stealing from me in order to keep me down. Governments don’t “make” economies work; they rob people. Never think that our government takes your money because they need it. They take your money because they need you not to have it. Wealth, knowledge and mobility all add up to freedom. That is unacceptable to government types who seem to have decided that they own us.
I’m not alone in this. In a couple of weeks I’ll be Fifty-something, and I can out work most 20 year olds. I have a crummy Associates Degree, yet I can keep up with guys who have BA and even some MA’s . I lost almost everything in 07, but have fought my way back through a series of temp jobs that pay 40% of my 2007 wages. I have 20 or so good years left. All I want is the chance to get permanent and really dig hard to make some-bodies bottom line shine. My temp employers will tell you they all “hated to see me go” yet the budgets aren’t there. Darn it; I’m a performer. I believe in the value of greatness at work and at home. I didn’t serve this nation just so it would turn into a crap hole! I have been yelling about the failure of attitude in America since about 1988. Now I’m screaming. If you aren’t a disabled Veteran; we (the people) don’t owe you a dam thing. Get off me and my fellow producers and let us excel. Let us create. Let us strive for the greatness that is in us.
Report this comment
thegreatcarnac
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 8:15pm…….and the democraps and obama want us to vote for them again?????they are idiots
Report this comment
hades3
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 7:16pmRemember the addage “Ownard and Upward’? Oama has a new one….”Forward and Downward”!
Report this comment
needmoinfo
Posted on September 6, 2012 at 2:40pmForward and over the cliff. Forward on the wrong train. Forward into the fire. Forward off the plank. I thought forward was suppose to mean the stats got better.
Report this comment
BHOHG2G
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 6:55pmBHO’s plan is right on course….. for now.
Report this comment
DOra Glasberg
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 6:11pmThank you party of NO. (Republican)
This is the EXACT same reason our credit rating was downgraded.
In your never ending attempt to make Obama a one term president
you have made it clear NOTHING can be accomplished,
Also Congess’s approval rating of 9% is well earned.
Report this comment
bwellbaseball
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 6:54pmyou do know the democrats controlled the house and the senate the first two years of Obama’s regime? And the democrats still control the senate? The same senate that has yet to pass a budget under a president that has added more debt in one term than any other president before him. If the liberals want communism so badly, then please move to Cuba
Report this comment
ttbone
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 7:07pmYou forget Democrats had the house for 2 of the 4 years and the senate for all four. As a matter of fact Democrats held both the house and senate during the last two years of the Bush administration (Isn’t that when everything started falling apart?) Back to the point Democrats had full control for two of the 4 years and (Republicans had 0 power to stop anything) Now two years ago Republicans take control of the house (only half of the congress) and and Democrats don’t like that they need to compromise to get things done.
Report this comment
therealconservative
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 7:11pmHey it’s Dora the Explorer, from the DNC
Report this comment
thegreatcarnac
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 8:14pmYou are wrong. THe democrat senate went along with a Freddie Mac mandate to allow home loans to any one (especially to minorities) who was breathing, no matter how bad the credit history. A little gay guy named Barney Frank was ramrodding (no pun intended) the operation. WHen the republicans (even BUSH) talked against such carelessness they were called privelidged, racist, and uncaring. They also were outnumbered. I have simplified the facts for time and room;s sake…but the housing break-down started the slide and demcrats were behind it.
Report this comment
DOra Glasberg
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 8:15pmPa-leeeeeeeeeze.
Deficit reduction has NEVER entered budget talks ever before.
It was a Republican manufactured issue.
And it cost us our A Moody’s rating. AND THEY SAID SO.
Report this comment
therealconservative
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 8:37pm@Dora The Explorer
“Deficit reduction has NEVER entered budget talks ever before.”
That’s because your Democrat liberal buddies have blocked it every time.
Report this comment
jaylew
Posted on September 6, 2012 at 7:22amDora….read and re-read what Bwellbaseball and TBone typed in response to your posts revisionist history. After perhaps doing that say 5 times….you may suddenly realize how foolish and stupid your post really is……but just to make you feel better….since the empty stadium in Charlotte with it’s 45 thousand empty wet seats this Thursday…….let me help you with one of those conditions…..and say that all of this…everything…you name it…take your pick…”It’s all George Bushes fault”……now that might not make your current seat empty….but I hope it helped make it the other word I used…..there’s nothing so tragic as a bitter liberal with a rote and revised historical memory….who is sitting in a dry seat.
Report this comment
frogg
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 5:38pmThere you go! another stunning achivement for our Good Buddy Obama! Pretty soon he’ll have us right there tied with Kenya. Vote the BUMS out this November! Please! Pretty Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out http://www.rescueourconstitution.com/
Report this comment
Wolfgang the Gray
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 5:43pmExactly right. He doesn’t think America is exceptional and he is out to prove it. If he gets another four years, he’ll have us all begging for scraps of food from Ethiopia.
Report this comment
yiska8
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 5:33pmI guess Barry will give everyone a shiny trophy in his administration so they don’t feel bad.
Report this comment
DOra Glasberg
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 6:11pmHon. Put the blame where it belongs. Duh.
Report this comment
therealconservative
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 7:14pm@Dora The Explorer
Put the blame where it belongs, with your leader Obama. BTW, how’s life at the DNC?
Report this comment
yiska8
Posted on September 6, 2012 at 6:43pm@Dora
Bless your heart Dora. Now go ahead and throw your vote back to the Kenyan. I hope you’ve got a strong back because enforced government labor is on the horizon and your tyrant King will tell us it’s your duty to clear a field for rice,cotton, and wheat. Maybe you’ll get your fair share then? Maybe not.
Report this comment
Larry E
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 5:29pmIt’s all Bush’s fault! He’s been President for the past 12 years so he’s to blame, and I don’t want to hear anything about how Obama was elected in ’08! That’s just racist and narrow minded and mean and nasty.
Report this comment
floridareader
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:19pmThe good part about this report: it comes one day before BHO reads of his speech as the democratic (aka communist) party. And right after one of the last polls indicate: 54% of Americans denies him the right to reelection.
Report this comment
TheEDGE
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:13pmIs half the country really this stupid or have the last 4 years just been a nightmare that I can’t awake from.
Report this comment
perry1980
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:08pmWe are Number 7! are you kidding me?!?!
The GOP was right………..We Can Do Better!
Report this comment
Eastinfection
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:56pmScrew the GCI Report. It’s no better than the BCS. What we really need is a good “playoff” system to determine which country has the most “sophisticated business sector” …oh wait, that would require a FREE MARKET!
Report this comment
GlennaBeckski
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:46pmIt would seem BO is far more successful than the Dems give him credit for. Of course, he couldn’t wreak all this havoc on his own..no one person is that intelligent. Gosh why don’t they just come out with it.. admit what their real agenda is and take credit where credit is do.
YOU GUYS ARE DOING A GREAT JOB DESTROYING THIS COUNTRY! And how can the REPUBLICANS NOT KNOW??? WHY AREN’T THEY EXPOSING THE TRUTH!! YOU’RE ALL A BUNCH OF LYING TRAITORS!! I CAN’T STAND THE SIGHT OF ANY OF YOU!!
Thank you and have a Blessed day..
Glenna B
Report this comment
GlennaBeckski
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:15pmAnd another thing … I still can’t get over the fact that a 2000 page bill was passed that NO ONE EVEN READ!! What is wrong with you people!!! WHO DOES THAT!!!
You are ALL A BUNCH OF ILLEGITIMATE LYING BASTARDS unworthy of this COUNTRY! A TRUE BLOODED AMERICAN would NEVER stand by and WATCH our BELOVED COUNTRY BEING SOLD OUT BY A BUNCH OF SOCIALIST.. MUSLIM LOVING.. POLITICALLY CORRECT GODLESS BLIND DEAF AND DUMB TRAITORS.
We in GOOD FAITH put you all into OFFICE and you have LIED.. ABUSED YOUR POWER AS WELL AS POSITION AND SOLD US DOWN THE RIVER!
DEMOCRAT/REPUBLICAN … YOU’RE ALL FECKLESS.. SELF CENTERED.. GOOD FOR NOTHING .. LYING COWARDS. I only WISH I could be a fly on the wall come JUDGEMENT DAY when you have to give an account for all the evils you have pervaded on this UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
sorry having a bad day..
Glenna B
Report this comment
TheBurningTruth
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:44pmThis is what you get when you penalize success and reward failure.
Report this comment
PorkPIG
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:10pmSoon we will have no success , When take away the freedom to fail you take away the freedom to succeed .
Report this comment
PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:44pmWe going to go from 5 to 7…that’s not good. Seems like Switzerland or Singapore is the place to be in this chart. I wouldn’t want to live in either….PLEASE GOD Bless the USA again…We need to take Barry out this year or sooner IF THE SENATE WOULD ONLY IMPEACH THE IMPERIALIST TRAITOR. Or election boards would not recognize him as a citizen or something like that would happen…We need a miracle before next January cause that’s too far away at how many million a day.
Report this comment
PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:37pmBeware of the rise of the 4th Reich. I think Germany put all it’s bad debt in Greece; kinda like a “bad bank”. Spain just created it’s own “bad bank” for all of it’s “bad” stuff. Germany is going to rise again and it ain’t gunna be good.
Report this comment
grayling646
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:35pmAmerika or America. That’s the choice this November.
Report this comment
Eastinfection
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:00pmclever… ever see the 80′s movie titled “Amerika” w/ Kris Kristofferson? We become communist.
Report this comment
kalli
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:30pmFinally, the owebama admin can say “we built that.”
Report this comment
Zipit
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:02pmRight on schedule! Obama’s schedule!
Report this comment
progressiveslayer
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:21pmYou almost got us to the bottom you bastard in chief,yep you built that you Marxist mulatto maggot in chief.
Report this comment
MittensKittens
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:30pmGeez, imagine that, I wonder why it co-insides with Obama in office…a phrase comes to mind…You can’t turn a t urd into a twinkie!
Report this comment
PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:33pmSo, progressiveslayer you’re as mad a hell, just like me and lets hope it’s like i think….atleast 60% of the country. We’re gunna slam the B’tard come November. Romney/Ryan 2012!!
Report this comment
Gonzo
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:41pmI’d love to see Bret Baier ask Durbin about this tonight! LOL
Report this comment
progressiveslayer
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:44pmPIGSWILLNEVERFLY Yes my rage is palpable because I knew his intentions before he was elected and he thinks he succeeded but I believe he’ll lose by a wide margin and we can repair the damage.
It’ll take years but it will be done.
Report this comment
MODEL82A1
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:17pmSo our Government needs to be more like The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland’s, huh? I’ll pass.
Report this comment
Gonzo
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:25pmIt should be more like America. .
Report this comment
MODEL82A1
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:28pmAmen, Gonzo.
Report this comment
soybomb315_II
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:01pmSwitzerland has a solid currency and everyone is a rifleman….maybe we could learn a thing or two from the swiss
Report this comment
MODEL82A1
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 4:13pmSOY, Yup, eliminating America’s Standing Military is a driving force for you PaulBots. We know.
Report this comment
therealconservative
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 7:16pm@soysauce
“everyone is a rifleman”
We already have those, their called Marines.
Report this comment
soybomb315_II
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 10:23pmi think you guys misunderstood the post
Report this comment
therealconservative
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 10:28pm@soysauce
I understood and so did everyone else. The problem is, you have no clue.
Report this comment
ccprotect
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 11:59pmdon’t be such a purest, we need everyone we can get to work against this communist movement. teach don’t badger
Report this comment
Gonzo
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:15pm‘Change You Can Believe In’ Oh wait, now it’s ‘Forward’. Should be ‘Backward’.
Report this comment
CatB
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:26pm@GONZO
Nope .. Forward over cliff works for me … and REJECTED by me also.
R & R 2012
Report this comment
762x51
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:15pmLooks like Comrade Chairman Obama’s plan to destroy America is succeeding. Good job Barry, here is your participation trophy, now go home.
Report this comment
TheObamanation
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 3:14pmThank you obama. If you have your way we’ll be a third world country or socialist ……. whichever comes first.
Report this comment