This month the World Economic Forum released “The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013,” that ranks 144 countries, on everything from “Organized Crime,” to the “Quality of Overall Infrastructure,” and the “Protection of Minority Shareholders. #1 represents the best nation, and #144 represents the worst nation. America did very poorly almost everywhere other than Gross Domestic Product where we ranked #1. This is yet another message about a system that no longer works, or at least a system that works well only for the top 1%.
Here’s a look at some of the few places we ranked in the top 10:
Strength of Investor Protection we are #5.
Quality of Scientific Research Institutions we are #6.
And on Venture Capital Availability we are #10.
But in most cases we did nowhere near as well.
Quality of the Educational System #28.
Reliability of Police Services #30.
Health Care #34.
Diversion of Public Funds [due to corruption] the U.S. ranks #34.
Quality of Primary Education #38.
Infant Mortality #41.
Cooperation in Labor-Management Relations #42.
Quality of Math and Science Education #47.
Transparency of Governmental Policymaking #56.
Public Trust in Politicians #54.
Primary Education Enrollment Rate #58.
Favoritism in Decisions of Government Officials” (otherwise known as governmental cronyism) #59.
Soundness of Banks #80.
Wastefulness of Government Spending #76.
Organized Crime #87.
Government Debt [as a % of GDP] #136.
The nations that stand high on most of these lists are Finland, Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Japan, Canada, Qatar, Netherlands, Iceland, Ireland, and Hong Kong.
The nations that generally rank in the bottom, other than the US, are the ones that are typically cited as being “developing” countries.