U.S. voters are being barraged by claims and counter claims of
how many jobs were lost or created under the Obama administration, did the
Detroit bailout hurt or help, and whether Obama or Republican stonewalling are to blame for the feeble
recovery. This partisan din kicks up a huge cloud of dust as self-appointed “independent
fact checkers” and “nonpartisan” think tanks contradict each other. Large
numbers of economists, some prominent and others less so, line up on both sides.
Pity the harried undecided voters in search of non-partisan information.
American voters could
well look above our political fray to the World
Economic Forum’s Global
Competitiveness Index (GCI). Every
year starting in 2004, the GCI ranks the world economies by their “competitiveness,”
defined as “the set of institutions,
policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country,”
which, in turn, determines “the level of prosperity that can be earned by an
economy.”
Throughout most of its short history, the
GCI ranked the United States
first or second. At times, Switzerland,
Finland, Singapore, Denmark,
and Finland have given the U.S. a
run for its money.
The GCI, to its credit, addresses what should be the
core issue of any political debate in any country: How well have country
leaders managed the economic and political institutions that create prosperity
and growth? Obama should be re-elected or “let go” depending on how American
voters evaluate his stewardship of America’s political and economic institutions.
The World Economic Forum’s motto is: “Committed
to Improving the State of the World.” Its annual winter meeting in Davos, Switzerland attracts the world’s jet-setting political,
business, and intellectual glitterati as they discuss issues de jure -- the world
economy, health and HIV, climate change, and globalization. Presidents, prime ministers,
central bankers, queens and parliamentary/congressional notables rub shoulders
with Bill Gates, Russian oligarchs, Henry Kissinger, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al
Gore, and Kofi Annan.
Barack Obama fits
the intellectual, cosmopolitan, and global profile of the World Economic Forum
to a T. A GCI conclusion that U.S.
political and economic institutions deteriorated under Obama’s stewardship could
not be spun as partisan by Obama’s spin masters.
go to forbes.com
What do you want to suggest when you tell your readers that European socialist (by your definition) countries top the world competitiveness rankings?
ReplyDeleteAn interesting question!
ReplyDeleteNo need to be worried this interesting question: Scientific methodology (economists are scientists) and statistical techniques (multiple regression analysis) helps. Holding everything else constant, one can isolate carefully a particular attribute in a comparison and analyze it. So, one can control for the 'Europeaness' (degree of socialism)of the included countries in the above discussion when comparing the US with them.
ReplyDelete"Wow!"
ReplyDeleteSteven J. Spinner, a former Department of Energy official at the center of the Solyndra scandal that cost taxpayers $535 million, ran for the exits when he saw ABC News cameras at the Democratic National Convention.
Emails surfaced last October that, while in the DOE, Spinner had pushed for the Obama administration to give the failed solar company Solyndra government-backed loan guarantees.
ABC News attempted to interview Spinner, but was blocked from doing so by a DNC employee as Spinner broke into a run for the exit.
“You can’t follow people,” the employee told ABC News, as he prevented the camera crew from filming Spinner. Neither the Obama campaign nor the White House responded to ABC’s requests for comment about Spinner.
http://news.yahoo.com/key-solyndra-scandal-figure-dodges-cameras-dnc-172016430.html