For nothing left to lose:
Economic freedom — the ability of individuals to control the fruits of their labor and pursue their dreams — is central to prosperity around the world. Heritage and The Wall Street Journal measure economic freedom by studying its pillars: the rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. Things like property rights, freedom from corruption, government spending, free trade, labor policies, and one’s ability to invest in and create businesses all factor in to a country’s economic freedom.
Sadly, economic freedom declined worldwide in 2011 as many countries attempted — without success — to spend their way out of recession…
Though some might think that the United States — the land of the free, the home of the brave — is of course a leader in economic freedom, they would be wrong. The United States fell to 10th place in the world for economic freedom, and its score continues to drop. The U.S. ranked 6th in 2009, 8th in 2010 and 9th in 2011.
Heritage President Ed Feulner writes, “Under President Barack Obama, [the United States] has moved to the back of the band. Its economic freedom score has dropped to 76.3 in 2012 from 81.2 in 2007 (on a scale of 0-100).” The culprit? Government spending, which has grown to a level equivalent to over 40 percent of GDP, and total public debt, which exceeds the size of the economy.
Yeah, but at lease we’ve got affordable health care now. See, there’s this act.
Interesting but not surprising that Hong Kong China has the most “Economic Freedom” of all.
The US only dropping a bit to 10th on the scale is not all that bad. We remain with some pretty heady company, and are “mostly free.” http://www.heritage.org/Index/ranking
The author Brownfield seems to have a bit of a political axe to grind as he takes mostly objective data (from the usually not-so-objective WSJ and Heritage Foundation) and bends it to make his point. Just so you all know.
While the decline was mostly due to increased government spending, it was that government spending that mitigated the recession and perhaps avoided a depression.
While the U.S. is the best country in the world, one cannot and should not expect us to top every list:
GDP per capita
Nations with Universal Health care
Inequality adjusted, Human Development Index
Accepting “mostly” is a rather disturbing viewpoint. Once freedoms start getting nibbled away, the process never stops, but accellerates. This is a very disturbing report.
I rather distrust “adjusted” figures like that. It is one thing to correct for, say, magnetic declination. Quite another to adjust for emotional variables such as “inequality.” I’ve seen it over and over, the social engineers “adjusting” out inconvenient data so their pet theory isn’t contradicted by facts.
And a UN report – about as unbiased as Chris Matthews.
It is unlikely in the extreme that FedGov’s debt will be paid. We are on the same path as Greece, and are probably going to be far worse off.
EuroSocialism has just about buried the Euros, and the Libtards here have learned nothing, because they refuse to learn.
The GOP has been the main enabler of their socialist schemes, and it looks like we are going to be buried as a result. In the not too distant future these will be seen as the good ol’ days.
It would be nice if human nature weren’t so predictable.
We’re on a similar path, but we have a few advantages over Greece. We have about half their debt as a function of GDP, our economy has more inherent robustness, our tax base is more stable, we have the worlds reserve currency, and, last but not least, we have the ability to devalue our currency to make paying off our debt easier. We may be in for some heavy rolls, but our trajectory will be different from Greece’s.
They are advantages that will mean little in the long run. FedGov, with both parties, is like a kid with a checking account that thinks that just because they still have blank checks they aren’t out of money.
When people wake up and see that such large debts don’t get paid is when the party will end.
Moderation hell is here again. I’ve dodged it for two months. Whatever did I do?
I have said it before, but it is worth repeating.
The consequences of profligate government spending that include loss of personal economic freedom are not the unintended, but the INTENDED consequences of the Obama Administration’s actions.
Don’t believe? Check out the economic theories embraced by the following:
Frank Marshall Davis
Valerie Jarrett
Anita Dunn
Van Jones
Eric Holder
Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan
Rahm Emanuel
Bill Ayers
Bernadine Dohrn
Saul Alinsky
Donald Berwick
Hillary Clinton
Ann Dunham (Mother)
Barack Obama Sr. (Father)
David Axelrod
Nah, probably just coincidence.
The “Iron Lady” said it so well, some 35 years ago “..to have the State as servant and not as master, they are the essence of free economy and on that freedom all are other freedoms depend”