I'm a numbers guy. So amid all this week's downbeat economic news, it's important to look at some longer-term issues and data.

I have to think worries about the credit crunch, consumer spending and recession are nearly fully priced into stocks and that the unprecedented global intervention into the credit market in recent weeks will begin to unfreeze them at some point soon.

Maybe not; I've been wrong before. But as former Fed chief Paul Volcker said in his Wall Street Journal op-ed this morning, government has many tools to help ease a crisis like this.

It's also important to remember that the U.S. economy is still incredibly strong in the long run. Even today, if you travel around the world and ask anyone where they would like to do business -- where a good business idea can get funded and flourish the most -- it remains the U.S. Innovation remains one of the strongest underpinnings of the U.S. economy and that's not likely to change soon.

And now some data. Here's the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 showing the U.S. still tops the world in overall competitiveness. There's an interactive version of the report and it includes loads of information and an interesting map showing the world competitive rankings.

categories: Understanding The Crisis

9:54 - October 10, 2008

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