US falls to 5th in global competitiveness, survey shows

I thought it was very interesting to see how the United States economy has compared to others within these past few years where we have experienced many difficulties in our nation's economy. The U.S., which until recently held the title for the most competitive economy, has seen their ranking drop in the latest announcement through the World Economic Forum. Such factors that are used in determining the rankings include the innovation of companies, education, and population belief in the government. It was only in 2008 that United States was at the top of the board, however, in three months have fallen to fifth in the world. Meanwhile, Switzerland for the third year in a row has come in first while the leading economy in Europe, Germany, sits behind the United States at sixth.

Throughout my time in college I knew that our nation's economy has struggled but I did not realize it was falling drastically on a global scale. According to the forum, the U.S. received praise for their, "productivity, highly sophisticated and innovative companies, excellent universities and flexible labor market." But, they also noted that the United States had "a number of escalating weaknesses" which included a rise in the government debt and also "declining public faith in political faith in political leaders and business ethics." I was very shocked to see that many are in a sense, giving up on our government and lacking confidence for the leaders of this country. Hopefully Obama will be able to implement new programs to reduce government spending and find new ways to address the unemployment issues that have dampened a large number of citizens hopes of finding a job in the work force.