http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092600213.html

<quote>
On the surface, two studies out this week seem to raise warning flags about the competitiveness of the U.S. economy.

One, the annual ranking from the World Economic Forum -- the elite business organization that runs the annual winter schmooze-fest in Davos, Switzerland -- finds that the United States has fallen from No. 1, a position it shared with Finland for most of a decade, to an unsettling sixth place.
</quote>

Add in the lower freedom rank for the US and I think you have a message the dems can use against the repubs.

The drive to be number 1 is such a strong meme it might actually sink in to the sluggish consciousness of unreality based.

Number one what? As measured how?

The way parents talk to their young children about bodily functions.

Wait!  Aren't tests and grades a bad thing?  How is this going to foster the development of the country?  </missing the point>

Heh. If we're not #1 we should drop the testing. Measure something else. I bet we're still #1 in hot-dog eating contests (hosting them, not the Japanese guy who wins everything).

Obviously the country just needs its self-esteem bolstered.  Stop criticizing it!  You'll just give it a complex!

> Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world’s most competitive economies according to the Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007 . The US saw the most pronounced drop in the top 10 rankings, falling from 1st to 6th. “The top rankings of Switzerland and the Nordic countries show that good institutions and competent macroeconomic management, coupled with world-class educational attainment and a focus on technology and innovation, are a successful strategy for boosting competitiveness in an increasingly complex global economy," said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Chief Economist and Director of the Global Competitiveness Network.

- http://www.weforum.org/en/index.htm

If you go in to the rankings, you'll see that each nation is assigned a score, which means there's a number of criteria they're measuring, so the criteria & the measurements are somewhat arbitrary.

Still, it's annoying not to be #1. I propose we invade the other 9 nations in the top 10 just to decimate their economies.

Let's face it. It's hopeless, we'll never catch up to Switzerland. They have skiing, chocolate, secret banks, cheese, real democracy, and those two world-class tennis players.

Competitiveness? Hmm.

We're first internationally for that.

But I wouldn't give us a 6 for local competitiveness. We're all about big business and chains and such. Not so many mom-and-pop anythings around.