We should be proud. We just eked out a victory over Bahrain for ninth place in the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom. Kinda makes you feel proud, doesn’t it? Could there be a connection between our dropping ratings over the last few years and our lack of an economic recovery?
Somehow the cheer “We’re number nine” does not have a winning ring to it.
Deroy Murdock comments:
America has slipped one spot since last year — from earth’s eighth-freest economy in 2010, according to the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom.This 17th annual report, jointly published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, sifts through the wreckage caused by government’s turbocharged acceleration during the Bush-Obama years. America’s slump in the rankings (we’re down from No. 5 in 2008) confirms the urgent need for Washington to revitalize free markets and restrain government intervention.
Mr. Murdock goes on to quote the two authors of the survey:
“The national government’s role in the economy has expanded sharply in the past two years, and the federal budget deficit is extremely large, with gross public debt approaching 100 percent of GDP,” explain the Index’s authors, Terry Miller and Kim R. Holmes. “Interventionist responses to the economic slowdown have eroded economic freedom and long-term competitiveness. Drastic legislative changes in health care and financial regulations have retarded job creation and injected substantial uncertainty into business investment planning.”
Mr. Murdock accurately describes the situation (emboldening added by me):
America remains blessed with wealth, durable institutions, and creative, clever, industrious citizens. Yet its self-doubt is fueled by an insatiable state that constantly devours more of the nation’s output, and with little to show for its gobbling. Depleted, America stumbles downhill.
Where will we be in future years? If we continue current governmental policies, we shall continue to drop lower.
