Are deficits hurting U.S. competitiveness? In the latest ranking of global competitiveness conducted by the World Economic Forum, the U.S. dropped from first place to sixth, due in large part to government-caused problems such as high deficits and health care troubles.

Although the U.S. scored well in business-related measures such as innovation and market efficiency, it ranked in the bottom third of countries studied in health care and in the bottom half for macroeconomic concerns because of its trade and budget deficits. Ahead of the U.S. in the macroeconomic measures were nations including Vietnam, Venezuela, Peru, and even Nigeria.

In the overall rankings, the top 5 countries ahead of the U.S. in the study are Switzerland, Finland, Sweden Denmark, ... and um, Singapore (not a country I normally think of as besting the U.S., except maybe in cleanliness and social order).

The global competitiveness study ranks nations according to a broad range of criteria including macroeconomic polices, technological development, and education systems and public institutions. The ranking combines economic indicators with results from a survey of business executives around the world.

Why does debt matter so much? Because problems like America's rising debt means that a growing portion of U.S. government spending goes for debt service, leaving less money available for spending on things like infrastructure and investments that can improve productivity. Heavy borrowing by government can also drive up borrowing costs for businesses.

While some people might complain that these rankings were biased against the U.S., it has to be remembered that the same body ranked the U.S. number one last year.

Do you think these rankings are correct? Correct or not, do they really matter? I'll be curious to see if companies decided to expand operations in the U.S. based on rankings like these, especially considering that the opinions of business executives were part of the input for the study.