U.S. Economic Freedom – No Longer in Top Ten

[longknife]

on January 14 2014 by Meagan Clark of International Business Times @ America Just Got Bumped From This Top 10 List, And That's Really Depressing

World economic freedom has increased to record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. But the United States, after seven consecutive years of slipping down the index, has left the top 10 freest economies.

For 20 years, the Index of Economic Freedom has evaluated countries’ performances in 10 categories, including property rights, freedom from corruption, government spending, trade freedom and others. Scores from 0 to 100 are then averaged and the countries are classified as “free,” “mostly free,” “moderately free,” “mostly unfree” or “repressed.”

Just what does this mean for the USA? Here's one part of the report”

The reason, according to editors of the report: "The overall economic policy direction of the United States in recent years has involved substantial growth in the size and scope of government, accelerating the erosion of economic freedom and contributing directly to America's fall from the top 10 freest economies.”

Read the entire thing at the link. I am certain posters will claim this to be unfair and biased but it seems to make a great deal of sense to this non-economist.

 

[Joe Steel]

"Freest economy" is a euphemism for right-wing economy. Being less free is a good thing.

 

[HelenaHandbag]

"Freest economy" is a euphemism for right-wing economy. Being less free is a good thing.

Thanks for sharing, Uncle Leon.

 

[dblack]

"Freest economy" is a euphemism for right-wing economy. Being less free is a good thing.

Good to see some of you honestly expressing your ideology.

 

[Indeependent]

That could be because we shipped our economy off to India and China.

 

[HelenaHandbag]

That could be because we shipped our economy off to India and China.

Or maybe because the business climates in China and India look like a better deal than does that of America's.

 

[norwegen]

That could be because we shipped our economy off to India and China.

Is that one of the factors determining economic freedom?

 

[OnePercenter]

The report is total bullshit. Conservative America has been working hard to funnel money to the upper-class for years. Big government is a deception.

 

[dblack]

The report is total bullshit. Conservative America has been working hard to funnel money to the upper-class for years. Big government is a deception.

But isn't that what the report is saying?

 

[OnePercenter]

The report is total bullshit. Conservative America has been working hard to funnel money to the upper-class for years. Big government is a deception.

But isn't that what the report is saying?

Heritage Foundation and faux news report. Both are actually responsible.

 

[dblack]

The report is total bullshit. Conservative America has been working hard to funnel money to the upper-class for years. Big government is a deception.

But isn't that what the report is saying?

Heritage Foundation and faux news report. Both are actually responsible.

Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're getting at.

The article seems to be citing big government, and it's incumbent crony capitalism, as the biggest limiting factor of economic freedom in the US.

 

[OnePercenter]

But isn't that what the report is saying?

Heritage Foundation and faux news report. Both are actually responsible.

Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're getting at.

The article seems to be citing big government, and it's incumbent crony capitalism, as the biggest limiting factor of economic freedom in the US.

Conservatism is the biggest limiting factor of economic freedom in the US.

 

[dblack]

Heritage Foundation and faux news report. Both are actually responsible.

Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're getting at.

The article seems to be citing big government, and it's incumbent crony capitalism, as the biggest limiting factor of economic freedom in the US.

Conservatism is the biggest limiting factor of economic freedom in the US.

What I find most ironic about this topic is the common assumption that greater economic freedom facilitates concentration of power, when in fact it does the opposite.

 

[expat_panama]

Read the entire thing

No, forget the pundit's rant and go directly to the Heritage source --I mean, most of us are fully capable of doing our own thinking for ourselves thankyou. That's where we see how the U.S. is number 12 out of a couple hundred independent sovereignties. Now we can look more closely at just those 11 "nations" we're supposed to be competing with--

--and what we're looking at is the U.S. and 11 tiny duchies and principalities. There's no meaningful or useful reason to compare say, Europe's economy with that of Lake Wobegone because only one spans thousands of miles, varied climates, and involves hundreds of millions of people. It makes a lot more sense to look at how the U.S. ranks with countries among populations at least 50M or bigger:

The U.S. is still number one among the grown-ups, and nay-sayers overlook America's power at their own peril.

 

[Sallow]

Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're getting at.

The article seems to be citing big government, and it's incumbent crony capitalism, as the biggest limiting factor of economic freedom in the US.

Conservatism is the biggest limiting factor of economic freedom in the US.

What I find most ironic about this topic is the common assumption that greater economic freedom facilitates concentration of power, when in fact it does the opposite.

Part and parcel with true capitalism (which promotes competition and trusted and fair markets) and and a robust economy is a strong central government that has multiple processes in place to assure that corruption is kept to a minimum. Conservatives in this country have been doing their very best to make sure that is not the case. From Citizen's United to the dilution of multiple regulations, to the weakening of regulators themselves, conservatives have been trying to gear an environment where the very rich make the rules.

That is what is creating a new "Gilded Age" in this country.

 

[norwegen]

Conservatism is the biggest limiting factor of economic freedom in the US.

What I find most ironic about this topic is the common assumption that greater economic freedom facilitates concentration of power, when in fact it does the opposite.

Part and parcel with true capitalism (which promotes competition and trusted and fair markets) and and a robust economy is a strong central government that has multiple processes in place to assure that corruption is kept to a minimum. Conservatives in this country have been doing their very best to make sure that is not the case. From Citizen's United to the dilution of multiple regulations, to the weakening of regulators themselves, conservatives have been trying to gear an environment where the very rich make the rules.

That is what is creating a new "Gilded Age" in this country.

Central government keeps corruption to a minimum!

 

[dblack]

What I find most ironic about this topic is the common assumption that greater economic freedom facilitates concentration of power, when in fact it does the opposite.

Part and parcel with true capitalism (which promotes competition and trusted and fair markets) and and a robust economy is a strong central government that has multiple processes in place to assure that corruption is kept to a minimum. Conservatives in this country have been doing their very best to make sure that is not the case. From Citizen's United to the dilution of multiple regulations, to the weakening of regulators themselves, conservatives have been trying to gear an environment where the very rich make the rules.

That is what is creating a new "Gilded Age" in this country.

Central government keeps corruption to a minimum!

That's the delusion I'm talking about. I keep coming back to the parallels between economic freedom and religious freedom. Back when the Church was a ubiquitous power in society, there was deep collusion, and competition, between religion and government. Those opposed to religious rule were convinced the only way to 'reign in' the Church was with state intervention - even to the point of create a state religion to compete with it. But real freedom from religious oppression didn't happen until reformers realized that the only way to keep religion out of government was to keep government out of religion.

I think we're facing the same dilemma with the current collusion between wealth and government. Corporations and banks have learned that state regulation of the economy is the most reliable way to ensure their dominance. Yet reformers persist with the myth that increasing government regulation of the economy is the way to fight them. We won't break out of the cycle until we realize that giving government control over our economic decisions vests too much power in too few hands, and actually fuels the fire we're trying to put out.

 

[GreenBean]

That could be because we shipped our economy off to India and China.

Or that our economy is being deliberately sabotaged...

Obama and his masters are no fools. He is not as incompetent as he appears. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within .

One of the many tactics employed by Obama and company is known as Cloward-Piven Strategy.

Deliberate Economic Sabotage

 

[editec]

That could be because we shipped our economy off to India and China.

Or that our economy is being deliberately sabotaged...

Obama and his masters are no fools. He is not as incompetent as he appears. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within .

One of the many tactics employed by Obama and company is known as Cloward-Piven Strategy.

Deliberate Economic Sabotage

YES..replacing honest capitalism with FASCISM.

Quite right..and both parties are co-conspirators in this near 50 year ongoing crime against the AMERICAN PEOPLE

 

[GreenBean]

That could be because we shipped our economy off to India and China.

Or that our economy is being deliberately sabotaged...

Obama and his masters are no fools. He is not as incompetent as he appears. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within .

One of the many tactics employed by Obama and company is known as Cloward-Piven Strategy.

Deliberate Economic Sabotage

YES..replacing honest capitalism with FASCISM.

Quite right..and both parties are co-conspirators in this near 50 year ongoing crime against the AMERICAN PEOPLE

I don't agree with the Both Parties segment