US drops out of world's 10 freest economies list, says WSJ

ITAR-TAS ^ | 05.01.2005

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

NEW YORK, January 5 (Itar-Tass) - For the first time since 1993 when the U.S.-based conservative Heritage Foundation and The World Street Journal began compiling the Index of Economic Freedom, the U.S. has dropped out of the list of the world´s top ten economies with the biggest degree of economic freedom.

In 2001, the U.S. occupied the sixth position on the list. It has slid to the 12th place now, sharing it with Switzerland.

The Index for 2005 that the Heritage Foundation think tank and the WSJ released Tuesday ranks Hong Kong as the world´s freest economy.

That former British colony reverted to mainland China´s jurisdiction in 1997, but it retained a big degree of economic autonomy.

It is followed on the list by Singapore and Luxembourg. Number four is Estonia, which the WSJ calls “a former Soviet satellite” that turned “into a model reformer setting the standard for how fast countries can move ahead in the realm of economic liberalization”.

Other ten tops are Ireland, New Zealand, Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Australia, and Chile. The WSJ calls them “relatively recent converts to free market”.

The Index reflects economic freedom in 10 categories, ranging from fiscal burdens and government regulation to monetary and trade policy.

“The 2005 Index finds that, on balance, freedom has again made strides around the globe: 86 countries are more free this year, 57 are worse off, and 12 remain unchanged,’ the WSJ said.

Russia has the 124th position on the list, standing between Indonesia and Romania.

The group of ten countries at the bottom of economic freedom parameters includes Venezuela, Uzbekistan, Iran, Cuba, Laos, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, Lybia, Myanmar, and the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea.

[Willie Green]

Related thread: Bush's budget gyrations

"Think what you do when you run into debt;
you give another power over your liberty."

-- Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

[frog_jerk_2004]

“The 2005 Index finds that, on balance, freedom has again made strides around the globe: 86 countries are more free this year, 57 are worse off, and 12 remain unchanged,’ the WSJ said.

LIBs, Castro, Bin Laden, Putin, Chirac, Schroder, Annan: "Bush's FAULT"!

[demlosers]

Index of Economic Freedom, the U.S. has dropped out of the list of the world´s top ten economies with the biggest degree of economic freedom.

Lets see this 'Index of Economic Freedom', so we can scrutinize it.

[JustAnotherSavage]

We seem to be diluting ourselves down to the lowest common denominator.

[Dead Corpse]

Google is your friend...

[demlosers]

FReepers who search for me are my friend. ;^)

[G.Mason]

Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand, Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Australia, and Chile, and 12th? The dreaded United States.

Look at all those Americans running to get on this train!

Why ... why ... we all may get trampled under the stampede.

Estonia, here I come.

[Willie Green]

Lets see this 'Index of Economic Freedom', so we can scrutinize it.

The 2005 Index of Economic Freedom at the Heritage Foundation.

[Revolting cat!]

"says WSJ," Duh!

[Straight Vermonter]

Other ten tops are Ireland, New Zealand, Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Australia, and Chile.

IBM has moved hundreds of jobs from the US (VT & NY) to Ireland purely because the tax advantages were so great.

[patriot_wes]

"US drops out of world's 10 freest economies list, says WSJ"

As is normal for "democracies" - government confiscation of wealth and government control over every aspect of a persons life always dooms them. Our founding fathers would be so ashamed of Amerika. Think of all the spilled blood of the patriots. Wasted! Men like Madison, Jefferson, Adams, etc. It is sad. :^(

[RockinRight]

Estonia is a sleeper. Watch that little nation-they could well become the best economy in Europe in the next 20 years/

[Revolting cat!]

WSJ:

[snip] "The Index scores economic freedom in 10 categories, ranging from fiscal burdens and government regulation to monetary and trade policy. The U.S., with its strong property rights, low inflation and competitive banking and finance laws, scores well in most. But worrying developments like Sarbanes-Oxley in the category of regulation and aggressive use of antidumping law in trade policy have kept it from keeping pace with the best performers in economic freedom.

Most alarming is the U.S.'s fiscal burden, which imposes high marginal tax rates for individuals and very high marginal corporate tax rates. In terms of corporate taxation as an element of economic freedom, the U.S. ranks a lowly 112th out of the 155 countries scored, and its top individual tax rate ranks only slightly better at 82nd. U.S. government expenditures as a share of GDP increased less in 2003 than in 2002, but the rise since 2001 is what explains the U.S.'s decline in score over the period."

[RockinRight]

Denmark surprised me. Britain better than us? We gotta do something about that.

Sanford for President!

[buwaya]

Not quite - as per the WSJ piece, the US has basically been standing still, and there has been a small backward drift due to things like Sarbanes-Oxley.

The real news is that other places are liberalizing and catching up.

[EternalVigilance]

Implementation of the FairTax would go quite a ways towards pushing us to the very top of this list.

[Fabozz]

Uh, Willie, you do realize, right, that what makes an economy less free by the Heritage Foundation's standard is exactly what you agitate for here on a daily basis?

• You want more government direction of investment (so that the "right" projects get funded, like your precious railroads)
• You want higher taxes (so that we get rid of all that icky debt you hate so much)
• You want more restrictions on the flow of goods and services across borders (so that brown people don't get any of our money)

...and so forth. Every single step the country takes in the direction of the stuff you want will push us further and further down this list. So unless you're posting this article to gloat, you're missing its point by a huge margin.

[demlosers]

"In 1998, the U.S. was the fifth freest economy in the world, in 2001 it was sixth, and today it sits at 12th, tied with Switzerland. The U.S. drop in ranking is explained in part by a slightly lower score, but mostly by the good performance among its competitors. The lesson? Stand still on the highway to economic liberty and the world will soon start to pass you by."

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006109


So the US is less competitive. Hmmmmmm? Not much diff between 1st and 12th. R Cat, thanks for the link.

INDEX OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM

The 2005 Rankings

Tuesday, January 4, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

Return to article.

Note: Due to economic or political instability, Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), Iraq, Sudan and Serbia and Montenegro weren't ranked.

FREE
1
Hong Kong
2
Singapore
3
Luxembourg
4
Estonia
5
Ireland
New Zealand
7
United Kingdom
8
Denmark
Iceland
10
Australia
11
Chile
12
Switzerland
United States
14
Sweden
15
Finland
16
Canada
17
Netherlands

MOSTLY FREE
18
Germany
19
Austria
20
Bahrain
21
Belgium
Cyprus
23
Lithuania
24
El Salvador
25
Bahamas
26
Italy
27
Taiwan
28
Latvia
29
Malta
Norway
31
Spain
32
Barbados
33
Czech Republic
Israel
35
Hungary
36
Slovak Republic
37
Botswana
Portugal
39
Japan
40
Trinidad and Tobago
41
Poland
42
Armenia
43
Uruguay
44
France
45
South Korea
Slovenia
47
Belize
48
Madagascar
United Arab Emirates
50
Bolivia
Mongolia
52
Bulgaria
Panama
54
Costa Rica
Kuwait
56
Peru
South Africa
58
Jordan
59
Greece
60
Jamaica
Oman
62
Cape Verde
63
Cambodia
Mexico
65
Mauritius
Nicaragua
67
Albania
Mauritania
69
Macedonia
70
Malaysia
71
Thailand
72
Saudi Arabia
Senegal

MOSTLY UNFREE
74
Croatia
Uganda
76
Lebanon
77
Moldova
Swaziland
79
Guyana
Sri Lanka
81
Namibia
Qatar
83
Tunisia
84
Bosnia and Herzegovina
85
Guatemala
Mali
Morocco
88
Colombia
Ukraine
90
Brazil
Philippines
92
Ivory Coast
93
Burkina Faso
Fiji
Guinea
Kenya
97
Kyrgyz Republic
98
Djibouti
Ghana
100
Georgia
Mozambique
102
Lesotho
103
Azerbaijan
Chad
Egypt
106
Gabon
Gambia
Zambia
109
Tanzania
110
Honduras
111
Paraguay
112
China
Turkey
114
Algeria
Argentina
Ecuador
117
Central African Republic
118
Equatorial Guinea
India
Niger
121
Dominican Republic
Indonesia
Rwanda
124
Russia
125
Romania
126
Cameroon
Nepal
128
Benin
129
Malawi
130
Kazakhstan
131
Togo
132
Yemen
133
Ethiopia
Pakistan
135
Sierra Leone
136
Republic of Congo (Brazzaville)
137
Vietnam
138
Guinea-Bissau
139
Syria
140
Suriname
141
Bangladesh
Nigeria
143
Belarus

REPRESSED
144
Tajikistan
145
Haiti
146
Venezuela
147
Uzbekistan
148
Iran
149
Cuba
150
Laos
151
Turkmenistan
Zimbabwe
153
Libya
154
Burma
155
North Korea

N

[Willie Green]

In terms of corporate taxation as an element of economic freedom, the U.S. ranks a lowly 112th out of the 155 countries scored,

The First Federal Revenue Law

On April 8, James Madison, once again a congressman from Virginia, addressed the House. He went right to the point. Congress, he said, must "remedy the evil" of "the deficiency in our Treasury." He argued that "[a] national revenue must be obtained," but not in a way "oppressive to our constituents." He then proposed that the House adopt legislation, virtually identical to the unimplemented Confederation tariff, imposing a five-percent tariff on all imports....

...A single, uniform tariff, he insisted, had two advantages. First, it could be imposed quickly, which was important because "the prospect of our harvest from the Spring importations is daily vanishing." Second, it was consistent with the principles of free trade ("commercial shackles," he said, "are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic")

A Proposal to Abolish the Corporate Income Tax

[george wythe]

The U.S. drop in ranking is explained in part by a slightly lower score, but mostly by the good performance among its competitors.

I'm glad to know that other countries are becoming freer than than US in the economic sense. I love free-wheeling capitalism.