Switzerland Surpasses U.S. in Economic Competitiveness - Newt Blames Obama

[populistdriven]

http://www.americansolutions.com/

The World Economic Forum released a stunning report yesterday that says the United States has fallen behind Switzerland as the most competitive economy in the world.

The U.S. dropped from the top spot in the WEF report in part because of "concerns on the part of the business community about the government's ability to maintain arms-length relationships with the private sector, and in the perception that the government spends its resources wastefully."

When you consider the government's intervention in the banks and auto industry and the proposed takeover of the health care and energy sectors, it's unfortunately not terribly surprising that government intrusion in the private sector led to the drop in rankings.

This report has to be pretty embarrassing for America. We don't like to be in second place. It's time for a new economic approach that creates jobs, not bigger bureaucracy and more debt.

It is interesting how Republican led financial policy of financial deregulation led to 1. the financial bubble, 2. the crisis under their watch and 3. the WEF down-rating.

So then this GOP-Gingrich led group blames the down-rating on Obama's government intervention to mitigate the fallout (which has worked and saved millions of jobs). But if it worked or not had nothing to do with the reasons cited by the report and Reuters for the down-rating. The site Newt links to http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE58718620090908 for the WEF report clearly states that "economies with a large focus on financial services such as the U.S., Britain or Iceland were the losers of the crisis." and that "There are problems on the financial market that we were not aware of before. These countries (like the U.S. and Britain) are getting penalized now".

The policy behind this website is as thin as Kleenex. Apparently Gingrich considers his constituents to be automatons that don't think independantly or ask critical questions.

The site states that a better economic policy is presented here - http://www.americansolutions.com/jobsfirst/ but there is nothing at all to address the concerns of the WEF, only more unfunded tax giveaways to the wealthy that grow the debt.

If there ever was a Trojan horse in Washington to destroy Capitalism the GOP is it folks.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Does Switzerland have single payer/universal healthcare?

[closeupready]

3. No - they have insurance exchanges, mandates.

But it's a small nation in comparison. It works there, but there are unique reasons for that.

[kenny blankenship]

4. They have NON-PROFIT basic care

you have to buy insurance. You buy it individually. But the insurance companies also have a mandate: they have to provide it at NO PROFIT. They can sell you supplemental insurance on top of that at a profit, which is their incentive for participating in the Swiss market.

Before the individual mandate was imposed Switzerland already had 95% of its citizens covered because the insurance was not for profit. The essential thing that got Switzerland to universal coverage levels was not the mandate but the requirement passed many years before that basic health insurance be non-profit. Imagine trying to achieve universal coverage in America with A) a mandate on all individuals to have health insurance and B) no employer based insurance plans - only individual policies. Craziness, right? We all know individual policies cost three times as much as employer sponsored plans.

It works for Switzerland because they FIRST removed the profit angle.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Some details here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland

BTW - Switerzland isn't in the Europoean Community incase you didn't know.

[WI_DEM]

2. these statistics would have been compiled before Obama was even president

and so you have the Bush Administration to blame, Newt.

[liberal N proud]

6. Health care!

[KansDem]

7. Why are we still listening to a disgraced, failed House speaker...

...who was caught lying about his involvement in a committee decision regarding his ethics violation?

Justices Ends Congress Cell Phone Fight
Justices End Lawmakers' Fight Over Cell Phone Eavesdropping
By Ann Gearan
W A S H I N G T O N, May 29


The Supreme Court effectively ended a lawsuit today that pitted a Republican congressman from Ohio against Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., over disclosure of an illegally intercepted telephone call.

Rep. John Boehner wanted to sue McDermott for allegedly disclosing a secretly recorded phone conversation among House GOP leaders in 1996. Without comment, the Supreme Court canceled a lower court's ruling that would have let Boehner's lawsuit continue. The justices directed the appeals court to resolve the dispute in light of the high court's ruling last week that a radio host could not be sued for playing a tape that was made illegally. Like McDermott, the radio host who ultimately made the conversation public was not the person who made the tape. Boehner's attorney, Michael Carvin, said the facts in the two cases were distinct, and Boehner should still prevail. McDermott's lawyer, Frank Cicero, said it was too early to declare victory because the appeals court still had to act, but he expected the judges would agree that Boehner had no case. "I think it should be over," Cicero said. "I'm a little surprised that they are twisting and turning and trying to keep this case going." Boehner alleged McDermott broke the law by leaking the contents of the conversation. McDermott contended he cannot be sued because he received the tape from someone else. Boehner sued after a Florida couple used a scanner to record a December 1996 conference call in which Boehner, then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and other House leaders discussed strategy involving announcement of an ethics committee finding against Gingrich. The couple gave the tape to McDermott, and the contents soon surfaced in news stories. The couple later pleaded guilty to unlawfully intercepting the call and were fined $500 each. Boehner's lawsuit accused McDermott of leaking the tape in violation of a federal wiretapping law that bars people from disclosing information they know was obtained by illegally intercepting a "wire, oral or electronic communication." McDermott argued that he did not break the law by receiving the tape, and that punishing him for allegedly making it public would violate his free-speech rights under the Constitution's First Amendment. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 1998, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia revived it in a 2-1 ruling in 1999. McDermott's duty not to disclose the tape stemmed from "every citizen's responsibility to obey the law," one judge wrote. In the appeal acted on today, McDermott's lawyers said the case presented "about as stark an issue of free speech as can be imagined: one political leader is seeking to punish another political leader for allegedly disclosing a conversation among the nation's top political leaders on a political topic."

ABC News

This must be a fetish of ABC News...

[populistdriven]

8. he is considered a 2012 contender

http://usconservatives.about.com/od/2012presidentialcampaign/ig/Top-5-GOP-Front-Runners-2012/2012-Candidate-Newt-Gingrich.htm

[KansDem]

9. Really??!!!

From the link provided:

Early in 2009, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich burst back on the political scene as a commentator for cable television news shows and as a headlining speaker in states that are politically important to candidates seeking a victory in the Republican presidential primary.

Gingrich last held public office in 1999, when he stepped down as Speaker of the House, but he had served for 20 years as a US Representative and is clearly qualified for the position of president. While it is important to remember that Gingrich is a polarizing figure both nationally and within his own party -- he was virtually forced from his Speakership by a contingent of fellow House Republicans -- Gingrich is widely seen as an insightful and shrewd politician.

Besides his divisiveness, another factor that could potentially hold Gingrich back in a quest for president would be his spotty personal life. Gingrich has been married three times, and he has frequently been accused of having a multitude of extramarital affairs, although he has only admitted to one -- with the woman who would eventually become his third and present wife.

Still, Gingrich is one conservative who has never made "family values" a key part of his platform. His campaigns have always been substantive and issue-oriented, and there's no reason to believe he'll operate a presidential campaign any differently.

The GOP must be digging at the bottom of the barrel...

[populistdriven]

11. well if you fill your party with the bottom of the barrel to begin with...

[JHB]

10. Newt doesn't have constituents, he has clients

He's not elected to any office, he just gets paid to talk.