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Post by jeffolie on Nov 2, 2007 13:46:59 GMT -6
However, as ridiculous as the phony GDP number was, yesterday’s biggest joke was a report on global competitiveness put out by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which ranked the U.S. economy as the world’s most competitive. To arrive at this conclusion, the forum has obliterated the obvious under a mountain of theory. In determining country rankings, the WEF weighed strengths in their "12 Pillars of Competitiveness", including: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labor market efficiency, financial market sophistication, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation. Completely ignored however are the measurable results of competitiveness, notably a trade surplus and a strong currency. It is as if the WEF decided to judge a weight loss contest without using a scale, by instead focusing only on mental attitude, dedication, perseverance, and nutritional education! As a result the prize is awarded to the fattest contestant. Based on the empirical evidence of a gargantuan trade deficit, staggering global indebtedness, and a declining currency, the United States is clearly not the most competitive economy in the world. www.howestreet.com/articles/index.php?article_id=5009
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Nov 3, 2007 5:26:55 GMT -6
If a country is buying more than it's selling, like the U.S. is, it means we're losing by any global competitiveness measure. The U.S. has is the biggest consumer market in the world, largely because Americans are happy to spend more than they earn, and financiers are happy to loan them the money to continue spending more than they earn.
We're the most competitive in when it comes to spending money that we don't have. That's the only area in which we are leading the world in "competitiveness."
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