The list is out, and the U.S.A. ranks as the tenth most free country, as far as the economy is concerned. Hong Kong is number one, and the U.K. is seventh. The U.K.? Free-er than the good ol' U.S.? Heaven forbid. Here's from the news report:
Published each year by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, the study measures the openness of world economies according to 10 factors, such as monetary policy, government intervention in the economy and fiscal burden, which measures how much a government taxes and spends.
"Domestically, the top marginal tax rates for individuals have been reduced several percentage points, and the partial elimination of double taxation on dividends leaves corporations less reliant on debt financing, and therefore less vulnerable to economic downturns," the report said.
The report said nearly nonexistent inflation and low interest rates continue to help the United States to achieve a good ranking.
You mean, lacking favorable economic indicators we would rank even lower?
I can see no excuse for us being anything but #1. We hold ourselves up as a beacon of freedom while other countries are more free? Let's fix that situation, and quick.
Posted by Walter at January 11, 2004 07:07 PMWe should not only be #1, we should be #1 by such a long margin that the rest of the world is in awe. However when even George Bush admits that we are not free, then what do you expect. We also moved down 4 places from last year and I expect that we will kepp moving down, our only saving grace is that the rest of the world is so bad that we good in comparison.
"Free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other.
Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."
George W. Bush
Remarks by the President on the Economy
Midwest Airlines Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 2003
salut
a tous