Free to Compete

            The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is that the United States must be free of the shackles of regulation in order to compete economically with other nations. Donald Trump understood how rules and regulations were hindering America, and he began eliminating regulations as soon as he became the President.

            The result of Trump’s actions can be seen by the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ranking of the United States as #1 in global competitiveness  in the 2018 World Competitiveness Report. The U.S. has ranked #3 for several years and has not been in the top spot for a decade.

Paul Roderick Gregory quotes the WEF report and writes the following to show why a “high ranking matters.” https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/412013-world-economic-forum-confirms-the-us-is-great-again-under-trump

“Global competitiveness is determined by the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country … And productivity leads to growth … and improved well-being.” The U.S.’s top ranking therefore suggests a lot of growth and prosperity to come….

As the world’s most innovative economy, America is well positioned to take advantage of the new competitive environment. This should be welcome news for the Trump administration and a Republican Party fighting to retain control of Congress.

            Gregory explains that the WEF ranks 140 countries in their study to determine which countries “will better be able to compete in the age of social media, robotics, big data and whatever else may come.” Their report “ranks the countries according to 12 productivity-enhancing `pillars,’ among them legal institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, skills of the labor force, product and labor markets, the financial system and innovation capability.”

            Continuing his explanation, Gregory says that the “U.S. ranks in the top three in more than half of the categories and is in first place in three categories – labor market, the financial system and business dynamism. The U.S. trails only Germany in innovation capability.” He suggests that “we drill down inside the pillars” to see why the U.S. was given the top ranking:

Our labor market is flexible, unlike highly regulated labor markets elsewhere. Employers hire and fire freely, redundancy costs are low, wage determination is flexible and professional management is the order of the day.

The strengths of the U.S. financial system are its promotion of business formation and innovation through its provision of capital to the private sector, its financing of small- and medium-size businesses and lively venture capital markets.

U.S. dynamism is reflected in its positive attitudes toward entrepreneurial risk, efficient bankruptcy procedures and the fact that innovative companies are given room to grow….

            It appears that Donald Trump is successful in making America great once again. He succeeded because he was willing to revoke many of the regulations that were strangling American individuals and businesses. In doing so, he freed America to become competitive once again!