The ongoing decline of America’s economic freedom has been going on for more than a decade. And, the latest report which ranks nations on their relative levels of economic prosperity shows that for the first time, the US is not among the 10 most prosperous nations in the world. The English “Legatum Institute,” with which I was not previously familiar (but sounds a lot like a British version of the Rio Grande Foundation) has been ranking the nations of the world based on economic prosperity for the past six years. You can see their latest report here and watch a “Yahoo News” report on the report here.
Interesting tidbits from the report: America’s greatest declines in recent years come in the categories of “entrepreneurship,” “economy,” and “personal freedom.”
The report ranks the US 2nd on health (only behind Luxembourg), far better than Canada’s 15th position despite Canada’s overall better rank. American education also performed respectably on the report with a 5th overall ranking.
Fascinating report and more evidence that whoever we elect as the next president and congress of this country, they have got to make the restoration of economic freedom a top priority.
What is “economic freedom”?
The measures reported by this organization do not match those of other, established organizations. The election should have shown that most “polls” get it right and the more politically biased the poll, the more deviant the results.
Simply put, “economic freedom” means enforcement of property rights in all of their many forms (physical, labor, reasonable taxes, etc) and the rule of law. This organization measured “prosperity,” that is different from “economic freedom,” but I’d say that such freedom is a prerequisite to prosperity.
It is really quite simple Michael. Economic freedom is a form of social cooperation in which the members of that society are free from government coercion and compulsion. Entrepreneurs and businessmen manifest their talents and energies for the possibilities of providing more and better things for the enhancement of everyone’s quality of life. The consumer is the driving force of a free economy. It is the now defunct system which raised the standard of living of the masses during the 18th through the early 20th centuries.