It’s pretty telling that we have slipped in terms of economic competitiveness for four years in a row.  As recently as 2007 and 2008, the United States topped the World Economic Forum’s list of Global Competitiveness.  By 2009 we had lost our top spot, slipping to 2^nd place.  But then the slide continued.  In 2010, we dropped to 4^th place and then last year we fell to fifth, thanks to two main things: Wasteful government spending and burdensome government regulations.

Now, folks, we have officially dropped to 7^th place on the Global Competitiveness scale.  Why the continued slide?  According to the survey, “A lack of macroeconomic stability, the business community’s continued mistrust of the government and concerns over its fiscal health were some of the reasons for the downgrade.”

And remember that earlier in the year, we ranked 10^th on the index of Economic Freedom.  We were downgraded to a “mostly free” country.  Do you remember that?

Our decline into economic oblivion is the most predictable crisis in recent memory.  We are fully aware of what we are doing to ourselves, and yet we can’t stop it.  This is because power, moochers and the promise of big government have now outweighed freedom and economic responsibility. If Obama is re-elected for four more years, who knows if we will ever be able to top that list again, at least for a long while.