THE WORLDWIDE PROBLEM OF TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT
The International Monetary Fund announced this past week that it expects world GDP growth to be only 2.9 percent this year. This is below the 3.2 percent in 2012, which was below the 30-year average of about 3.6 percent, and far below the one-of-the-best recent four-year periods, from 2004 to 2007, when it averaged 5.1 percent.
The differences may seem small, but the rate of GDP growth determines how quickly global poverty declines and real incomes rise.
Real global growth has declined owing to government spending growing faster than the private sector in much of the world, mounting environmental and financial regulation whose costs far exceed the benefits, and monetary policies forcing misallocation of capital in the major economies.
In other words, what's wrong with America's economy is not unique -- it's what's wrong with much of the entire world.