Posted on 01/26/2010 11:56:58 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
It's official – the UK is no longer a free country. Well, semi-official, because the judgement comes from the independent Heritage Foundation, based in Washington DC, which has been compiling its influential Index of Economic Freedom for a decade and a half. It surveys 183 countries, assessing them on ten scores including business freedom, property rights, trade, government spending and corruption.
This year, though, after the financial crisis and the regulatory clampdown on banks, investment, and finance, both the United States and the United Kingdom have headed down the scale. By contrast, Switzerland – which is attracting financial firms and their high-flying employees away from the City of London – has been storming up the league table.
The most shocking news, though, is that the UK has dropped out of the top ten for the first time. In the view of the Heritage Foundation, in other words, it is no longer a free country. Well, we could have told them that. The Heritage experts say that it is not just a fall in the UK's financial freedom that explains its slippage. They blame high public spending and workplace regulations, which take decisions out of the hands of individuals and empower officials instead. That growing official power is one reason why the UK is slipping in terms of corruption and the respect for property when compared to other countries.
Sure, we are better than North Korea, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Eritrea and Burma, which make up the tail end of the Index. But in any index of free countries, it is a bit galling to fall behind Chile. Galling, but certainly fair.
Take with several tablespoons of salt. There are some dynamics that are simply unacceptable in a “free” country, and they are found in their top two, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Leaving aside whether their weightings and judgements are right or not, are they not implying that there can only ever be ten "free" nations in the world? Surely that cannot be right...
The Index covers 10 freedoms – from property rights to entrepreneurship – in 183 countries. The 2009 edition also began analyzing regions to showcase the freest economies in every part of the world.
Thanks BerlinFR....love the Heritage Org and the Adam Smith Org looks great too. There can be no Freedon without Economic Freedom!
Don't get me wrong. I happen to believe that the freedoms of both the US and the UK are being steadily eroded. I just don't think that this kind of thing proves it. Nor do I think its very helpful in convincing people that we are less free.
The survey is clearly a comparison of “ECONOMIC” Freedom. Here is an interesting CATO graph on the ‘Growth Of Fed Gov = Loss of Individual Freedom’: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/tag/subsidy-programs/
But economic freedom does not exist in isolation from political freedom, or social freedom. The one is often a function of the others. Even within “Economic” freedom there are subdivisions which have been arbitarily weighted.
I understand & agree with what you are saying about the interconnectivity of various forms of freedom. I think there is an argument to be made that Economic Freedoms may be a foundation for other rights & freedoms. Is the Heritage Index the only or most accurate measurement of Freedom...I doubt it and would like to compare Heritage to others.
If you were to call the list “best places to make a fortune in” I would not disagree with that.
Once I had that fortune, would I want to stay there... quite another question!
Interesting point HiTech...I wish someone would pose that question to a number of Warren Buffett types as well as more modest & aspiring entreprenuers.
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