Economic Roller-Coaster

For the past few months years, the Bush(whacked) Administration and the gop have been sounding the horns about the phenomenal state of the U.S. economy.

Turns out they were lying.

I’ll give you a moment to get over the absolute shock of republicans lying about something…

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In what can only be described as an enormous blow to the republican's spinning that the U.S. economy is “doing great,” the World Economic Forum has released their study for this year… and the news ain’t good.

Last year the United States had the #1 economy in the world.

This year… we have the sixth.

That’s right… #6… as in there are five nations in front of us.

(How did the World Economic Forum arrive at this number you ask? The study ranks countries around the world according to a range of criteria – including, but not limited to) macroeconomic policies, market regulations, technological development, education systems and public institutions – that the Forum thinks influences an economy's level of productivity, and therefore its ability to sustain economic growth, over a period of years.
Those factors are then combined with economic indicators and findings from a survey of business executives to arrive at the final rankings.)

In an article on CNNMoney.com, the World Economic Forum said stronger performing countries “were distinguished by their competent economic stewardship, investment in higher education and an emphasis on technological development and innovation.”

(Makes you wonder if that was the moment everyone in the forum looked at the republican budget priorities and started laughing their asses off )

Now… if you’re like me, you’re sitting at your computer, staring agape at the screen and wondering how our once-economically strong nation has fallen to sixth place.

I can name that tune in 2 words...

Dub. Ya.

You read that right… George W. Bush and his entire crony-led Bush Administration.

Granted, that may be a slight oversimplifying, but according to the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire: “The U.S.'s huge budget deficit threatens to make the country's economy less competitive… The Forum's annual study of global competitiveness says the U.S. is only the sixth most competitive economy in the world, slipping from first place in last year's ranking thanks to mediocre scores for its public finances.”

The forum went on to cite the administration’s “huge defense and homeland security spending commitments, plans to lower taxes further, and long-term potential costs from health care and pensions" as some of the reasons for the change in ranking.

To put it another way; we lost our position as the world’s most competitive economy due to budget and trade deficits.

Thanks Bush Administration!

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Just so you know, Switzerland was ranked No. 1 in this year’s survey (thanks to what the Forum sees as a combination of efficient public administration and flexible markets) followed by Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Singapore.

Insert your own snarky comments now…