I’ve seen several conservative bloggers link to this report’s findings that the U.S. has slipped to seventh on the global competitiveness rankings:
The United States has slipped further down a global ranking of the world’s most competitive economies, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday.
The world’s largest economy, which was placed 5th last year, fell two positions to the 7th spot – marking its fourth year of decline
But while at face value this seems like a good headline for the GOP, take a look at the six countries ahead of us and take a poll of your fellow conservatives to see how many of them would want to embrace the left-of-center policies in their governments. I’m sure they’ll love the individual mandates in countries like Sweden and Switzerland. Every single one of these countries have universal health care systems that are far to the left of the current GOP and rank higher on the World Health Organization’s index for quality of care. These are the kinds of programs Republicans have been decrying as “big government.” It’s strange how not having your health care tied to your employer allows you to be nimble and take more risks in entrepreneurship, isn’t it? Just think what will happen in 2014 when pre-existing conditions are eliminated and Americans who currently want to start their own businesses but can’t leave their jobs because of employee health insurance suddenly have the freedom to do so.
Also about 70% of the Swedish labor force is unionized, which goes against conservative talking points that unions decrease competitiveness.
Bottom line: If Republicans want to link to this report to criticize Obama, then they need to actually examine the governments that beat out the U.S. Otherwise it’s just shallow political opportunism.
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