Remember when America had a free enterprise economy?

A report in the Wall Street Journal came out that shows that the United States has dropped out of the top ten nations that have the freest economies in the world. This is one of the reasons why our economy is so bad these days.

For as long as I can remember, and for as long as this statistic has been available, the United States has always been in the top ten and usually in the top five. With the rise of Big Government, the regulatory state and crony capitalism, our economy has suffered and this is why. Here is what the Wall Street Journal has to say:

World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries.

This coincides with the Democrats taking control of both the house and senate. We also have George Walker “Compassionate Conservative” Bush who had no problem with most of the massive regulations that came out.

For 20 years, the index has measured a nation’s commitment to free enterprise on a scale of 0 to 100 by evaluating 10 categories, including fiscal soundness, government size and property rights. These commitments have powerful effects: Countries achieving higher levels of economic freedom consistently and measurably outperform others in economic growth, long-term prosperity and social progress. Botswana, for example, has made gains through low tax rates and political stability.

Those losing freedom, on the other hand, risk economic stagnation, high unemployment and deteriorating social conditions. For instance, heavy-handed government intervention in Brazil’s economy continues to limit mobility and fuel a sense of injustice.

Gee, this sounds somewhat familiar doesn’t it? We are going into year seven of what used to be called “Stagflation.”

It’s not hard to see why the U.S. is losing ground. Even marginal tax rates exceeding 43% cannot finance runaway government spending, which has caused the national debt to skyrocket. The Obama administration continues to shackle entire sectors of the economy with regulation, including health care, finance and energy. The intervention impedes both personal freedom and national prosperity.

Try explaining THAT to a member of the Progressive Liberal Democrats. They will not believe it since it is diametrically opposite of their religious beliefs. Make no mistake, I said their beliefs are a religion and I meant it. None of what they have been espousing for the last 100 years has worked and has resulted in the deaths of over 120 million people world wide.

But as the U.S. economy languishes, many countries are leaping ahead, thanks to policies that enhance economic freedom—the same ones that made the U.S. economy the most powerful in the world. Governments in 114 countries have taken steps in the past year to increase the economic freedom of their citizens. Forty-three countries, from every part of the world, have now reached their highest economic freedom ranking in the index’s history.

And the United States has been not so much stepping backwards as putting the transmission in reverse and stomping on the gas pedal.

The U.S. and the U.K, historically champions of free enterprise, have suffered the most pronounced declines. Both countries now fall in the “mostly free” category. Some of the worst performers are in Latin America, particularly Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia. All are governed by crony-populist regimes pushing policies that have made property rights less secure, spending unsustainable and inflation evermore threatening.

Now why have the United States and the United Kingdom declined so much? Simple. Both are run by people that believe in the power of the state over the rights of the individual and prefer a command style economy not unlike those in socialist and communist countries.

The record of increasing economic freedom elsewhere makes it inexcusable that a country like the U.S. continues to pursue policies antithetical to its own growth, while wielding its influence to encourage other countries to chart the same disastrous course. The 2014 Index of Economic Freedom documents a world-wide race to enhance economic opportunity through greater freedom—and this year’s index demonstrates that the U.S. needs a drastic change in direction.

Right off the bat, repealing the Dodd-Frank ((Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act)) law and the Sarbanes-Oxley ((Sarbanes–Oxley Act)) act would be a good step in the right direction. Both laws are a response to some issues that were blown out of proportion. They have done nothing to actually improve the economic situation and have actually done some massive harm. As to Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank? Those two are directly responsible for the economic mess we are in now. When warnings were provided to them, long before the crash in 2008, not only did they ignore it, they actually denied their was a problem and actively interfered with attempts to prevent the problems from occurring.

The list of nations starts with Hong Kong which is no surprise. They have always been in the top three and even the Chinese government knew to leave well alone when they took control of Hong Kong back from the British. The United States is now 12^th on the list with the United Kingdom 14^th. With the Barack Obama as president, a man who is as Red as Karl Marx, a corrupt Democrat party and a split Republican party, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better…if they ever do. There is a reason that States that reject the policies of the Progressive Liberal Democrats are in better shape financially and economically. They believe in freedom and the individual. The Democrats? They would fit right in with the Borg ((Borg (Star Trek))) collective.

We need to flush out Washington, close many of the bureaucracies that have now grown out of control and restore the balance between the People, the States and the Federal Government. This Top Down nonsense promulgated by the Progressive Liberal Elites is nothing more then a failed, lethal fantasy. Until this happens, Americans will continue down the road to serfdom and slavery.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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