Why is America losing its economic freedom?
By Ed Feulner
Only the U.S. has declined for seven straight years
For generations, people worldwide who yearn for freedom have looked to the United States. Here, every citizen can speak his mind, pursue his passion and exercise other God-given liberties that are unjustly denied many others around the globe.
That doesn’t mean we’re above reproach in all areas of freedom, though. Take economic freedom, which continues to deteriorate a little more each year.
I’m not basing this on hearsay or on the latest jobs report. Every year, the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal release a detailed, country-by-country policy guide known as the Index of Economic Freedom. The news for the United States has been getting a little worse each year over the past several editions.
In the 2013 index, the United States managed to hold onto its 10th-place finish from the year before, despite an overall decline in its score. My last index column concluded with this sentence: “Or is this our last year as a top-10 finalist in the index?”
According to the 2014 index, our 20th-anniversary edition, the answer is yes.
The United States now stands at No. 12 globally. Even among North America’s economies, we have little to brag about: Canada, sixth globally and one of many that improved last year, has a comfortable lead on us.
As recently as 2008, the United States ranked seventh worldwide, had a score of 81 (on a 0-100 scale, with 100 being the freest) and was listed as a “free” economy (a score of at least 80). Today, it has a score of 75.5 and is “mostly free,” the index’s second-tier economic-freedom category.
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Read more: www.washingtontimes.com
That doesn’t mean we’re above reproach in all areas of freedom, though. Take economic freedom, which continues to deteriorate a little more each year.
I’m not basing this on hearsay or on the latest jobs report. Every year, the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal release a detailed, country-by-country policy guide known as the Index of Economic Freedom. The news for the United States has been getting a little worse each year over the past several editions.
In the 2013 index, the United States managed to hold onto its 10th-place finish from the year before, despite an overall decline in its score. My last index column concluded with this sentence: “Or is this our last year as a top-10 finalist in the index?”
According to the 2014 index, our 20th-anniversary edition, the answer is yes.
The United States now stands at No. 12 globally. Even among North America’s economies, we have little to brag about: Canada, sixth globally and one of many that improved last year, has a comfortable lead on us.
As recently as 2008, the United States ranked seventh worldwide, had a score of 81 (on a 0-100 scale, with 100 being the freest) and was listed as a “free” economy (a score of at least 80). Today, it has a score of 75.5 and is “mostly free,” the index’s second-tier economic-freedom category.
...........................
Read more: www.washingtontimes.com
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