Dubya dropped us to 8th by 2005 .... to 10th by 2008 .... and Obama has now taken us down to 18th. It represents an absolute score drop of 10%, which is VERY steep. The US drop has been, to quote the people who issue it, "across the board." They noted in particular regression in size of government, legal structure, protection of property rights, freedom of international exchange, access to sound money, freedom of international exchange, regulation (particularly of business, investing, and financial markets). Sound money was a push, all the others have had serious regressions, and it isn't hard to name some of the more egregious ones (Kelo vs New London ... ObamaCare ... Dodd-Frank ... auto bailouts ... TARP .... and even though all the neocons here cheer the Patriot Act, it does impede international exchange and therefore is also again a recurring negative.)

The big gainer? Chile. They went from next to last in 1975 to now entering the Top 10.

People we should be embarrassed to be behind are bolded.

#1) Hong Kong ... 8.90
#2) Singapore ... 8.69
#3) New Zealand ... 8.36
#4) Switzerland ... 8.24
#5) Australia ... 7.97
#5) Canada .... 7.97
#7) Bahrain ... 7.94
#8) Mauritius ... 7.90
#9) Finland .... 7.88
#10) Chile ... 7.84
#11) United Arab Emirates ... 7.83
#12) Ireland ... 7.75
#12) United Kingdom ... 7.75
#14) Estonia ... 7.74
#15) Taiwan ... 7.72
#16) Denmark ... 7.71
#17) Qatar ... 7.70
#18) United States ... 7.69

...but I'm sure that has nothing to do with why we're losing jobs.


Keep voting for Progs, people.

bumpity