US falls to 5th in global competitiveness, survey shows

Huge deficits and lack of faith in government push nation down the list

The U.S. has tumbled further down a global ranking of the world's most competitive economies, landing at fifth place because of its huge deficits and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday.

The announcement by the World Economic Forum was the latest bad news for the Obama administration, which has been struggling to boost the sinking U.S. economy and lower an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent.

Switzerland held onto the top spot for the third consecutive year in the annual ranking by the Geneva-based forum, which is best known for its exclusive meeting of luminaries in Davos, Switzerland, each January.

Singapore moved up to second place, bumping Sweden down to third. Finland moved up to fourth place, from seventh last year. The U.S. was in fourth place last year, after falling from No. 1 in 2008.

The rankings, which the forum has issued for more than three decades, are based on economic data and a survey of 15,000 business executives.

At least it was ranked fifth, could probably sink much lower and quickly. And in other news assessing US economic conditions:

US Economy Is Basically 'Still In Recession': Fed's Evans

The U.S. economic outlook has "clearly" deteriorated this year, and the continued softness of economic indicators shows that the headwinds facing the country are even stronger than thought, Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said on Wednesday.

"Conditions still aren't much different from an economy still in recession [cnbc explains] ," Evans, speaking at a seminar in London said.

He said the Fed [cnbc explains] faced significant challenges in overcoming the obstacles left behind by the financial crisis.

At least this Fed member doesn't have his head in the sand like many of the other rose-colored glass optimists.