Fraser Institute Report Confirms the U.S. has Strong but Slipping Property Rights

Property Rights Alliance ^ | 2011-09-27 | J. Michael Wahlen

[92nina]

The Fraser Institute , a free market think tank, has recently released its annual The Economic Freedom of the World Report. As the title suggests, this report measures the economic freedom of 141 countries using five categories: size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labor and business. Hong Kong remained number one on the list, a position it has held for nearly 25 years, followed by Singapore and New Zealand.

The report shows a worrying trend for the United States. America’s economic freedom rank has fallen from 4th in the year 2000 to 10th in 2011. Even more concerning, the U.S. fell 3 spots in each of the last two years, implying that it is on a strongly negative path. The fall in rankings can be attributed primarily to three areas: security of property rights, access to sound money and freedom to trade internationally.

These results are broadly consistent with the International Property Rights Index (IPRI) produced here at the Property Rights Alliance. We too find that the United States is in a strong position in its protection of property rights, but not the strongest, ranking it 18th overall in 2011. The falling in property rights rankings in both indexes has been due to a deteriorating legal environment in the United States as property rights have not been consistently upheld by the court system. Abuses of eminent domain have been one of the largest problems in this category...

[92nina]

The financial markets aren't the only measures taking a dive.

Take this article and others I found to the fight to the Libs on their own turf; put the Left on the defensive at Digg and at Reddit and in Delicious and Delicious

[mjp]

The collectivist premise and the tribal premise which when combined declare that property belongs to society and society has the power to decide how to use and dispose of the property for the common good is the start of the pathway to socialism and statism.

[Secret Agent Man]

I don’t know how they get that.

How much rights do you have if the city can take your house if you can’t pay your property taxes? You own something but it taint yours if you can’t pay a government assessment on it every year.

I worry more about government coming after me than criminals. Far, far less risky to shoot criminals attacking and robbing me.