Letter to Editor: Market-Limiting State in Lean and Fat Times

Published in The Wall Street Journal

Daniel Yergin’s “Markets Run into Skepticism—and Regulators” (op-ed, July 19) mentions that 30% of the U.S. economy is from foreign trade which supports 41 million U.S. jobs. At what cost?

In its Global Competitiveness Report, the World Economic Forum ranks countries based on various criteria that impact their overall competitiveness, including institutions, infrastructure, macro environment and education. Based on the overall score, the U.S. ranks third out of 140 countries. However, when ranked based on the burden of government regulation, the U.S. ranking is 51. We keep talking about how to improve U.S. competitiveness, but why not reach for the low-hanging fruit?

Pınar Çebi Wilber
American Council for Capital Formation
Washington