Posted on 01/31/2018 6:50:52 AM PST by Kaslin
Is America the world's freest country? Sadly, no.
When researchers first started doing detailed international comparisons, the USA came in second or third. This year, however, we ranked 17th.
The comparison I cite is the newly released Human Freedom Index, compiled by the Fraser and Cato Institutes. They compared economic freedoms such as freedom to trade, amount of regulations and tax levels, plus personal freedoms such as women's rights and religious freedom.
Their new report concludes that the world's freest countries are now:
1. Switzerland.
2. Hong Kong.
3. New Zealand.
4. Ireland.
5. Australia.
"The United States used to have one of the freest economies in the world," Index co-author Ian Vasquez says. "It used to be a two, three or four, and then government started to grow (and) spend more."
Republicans and Democrats, under Presidents Bush and Obama, voted for increases in spending and regulation. Obama tried to make tax increases sound harmless. "Those who are more fortunate are going to have to pay a little bit more."
The result was that we fell farther from the top of the freedom ranking. Switzerland now takes first place. It has comparatively little regulation, low taxes, a free press and personal freedoms such as same-sex marriage.
A good ranking matters, not just because freedom itself is a good thing, but because economic freedom allows people to prosper.
Consider the story of Hong Kong, No. 2 on the overall freedom list (but No. 1 in economic freedom). In just 50 years, people in Hong Kong went from being among the poorest in the world to among the richest.
Prosperity happened because Hong Kong's government puts few obstacles in the way of trying new things. It took me just a few hours to get legal permission to open a business in Hong Kong. In New York, it took months. In India, I didn't even try -- it would have taken years.
That's a reason India stays poor. Bureaucrats have the power to review and reject most any new idea. Fewer new ideas get tried.
The absolute worst places to live are countries that lack both economic and personal freedom.
Those are the places at the bottom of the freedom ranking:
155. Egypt.
156. Yemen.
157. Libya.
158. Venezuela.
159. Syria.
(Totalitarian North Korea wasn't ranked because the researchers couldn't get accurate information.)
Syria ranked so low mostly because of the war. You aren't free if you worry you might be killed.
Second-to-last place Venezuela was once the richest country in Latin America. Then socialists promised to spread the wealth.
The next three: Libya, Yemen, Egypt -- well, the Arab Spring didn't turn out as well as some hoped.
On the top of the list, I wasn't surprised to see New Zealand and Australia. They always do well.
But Ireland? I associate Ireland with poverty. For 150 years after English rulers caused the Potato Famine, Irish people left Ireland to search for a better life.
But Ireland recently changed, says Vasquez.
"They reduced taxes ... spending, reduced regulations. They opened up to trade."
Now people want to live there.
You can read the full freedom rankings on the Cato Institute's and Fraser Institute's websites. If you plan to move or start a business in another country, the Freedom Index is a good guide.
Greece is beautiful, but it ranks 60th, mostly because the country lacks economic freedom. China got richer, but because personal freedom is so limited, China ranks 130th.
How do you summarize a free country? I asked Vasquez.
"You can lead your life any way you want as long as you respect the equal rights of others, he answered. You (decide) what job you want to take, what kinds of things you want to do, who you want to marry, what you want to do on your free time, where you want to live."
I suggested that countries don't regulate your free time, but Vasquez set me straight.
"They do." Some countries, he says, "regulate everything!"
Odd...didn’t see one mention of the right AND freedom to bear arms.
Best/free-est different.
If that is the litmus test for freedom, then they need to remove Australia from the list as EVERYTHING is trying to kill you in Aussieland!
Exactly. How free was the guy in Australia who, shortly after defending his home from armed intruders by confronting then with an unloaded rifle, had his entire collection of firearms confiscated by the police?
That, and the right to self-defense.
These two things are always conveniently discarded as factors since they would move the U.S. to the top of the list.
They include a government enforced regulatory scheme aimed at reducing freedom: the destruction of marraige be defining it out of existence.
They lost all credibility. “Same Sex” marriage is an oxymoron. It is calling black white, or up down, or evil, good.
Any system of ranking that includes a score for “sexy” as part of its rankings is not worth my time.
Florida has almost everything you have listed as dangerous in Australia. Doesn’t stop people from coming here and living a happy life. Florida is, of course, much much smaller than Australia. Speaking of size,I find it amusing that the so called freest country in the world is an ink spot compared to America. There are less people living in Switzerland than in New York city.
An additional side-bar: Here in States Marcus drove a pretty bad-ass tricked out Grand Prix.
Is America the world’s freest country? Sadly, no.>>>>>>>>>>>>
BuahgahahahahahahahA!
No OTHER country has a second amendment or its equivalent.
By that measure alone, the USA is the freest of the freee.
I do not agree with how the liberals and progressive aSShats assess freedom when no other nation has the ability of seizing or preserving freedom guaranteed in the hands of their citizenry.
America is the most free. No question about it.
I’ve been to both Ireland and Switzerland in the past 12 months; I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly oppressive in either country, but I don’t understand how freedom in the US falls short.
Can you buy a firearm and use it defend to yourself in those top five countries? (Switzerland. Maybe.)
Are there ‘hate speech’ laws in those countries? Can you say something nasty about Islam in a public forum and not be charged?
If a nation does not allow citizens the means to defend themselves, it is not a free nation. If a nation has ‘hate speech’ laws, it does not have free speech; if a nation does not have free speech, it is not a free nation.
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