US falls off top free economies' list

[bemildred]

Propaganda, incoherent drool.

The organisation, which promotes low taxes and limited government regulation, said on Tuesday the US was tied for 12th place with Switzerland in the 2005 Index of Economic Freedom.

Hong Kong retained its top ranking in the survey, followed by Singapore, Luxembourg and Estonia. Ireland and New Zealand tied for fifth place, followed by Britain, Denmark, Iceland and Australia in the top 10. Chile ranked 11th.

"Perhaps the greatest surprise in this year's index is the failure, for the first time, of the United States to make the top 10," the Washington-based research group said.

"Although its score remains unchanged from last year, and it is still classified as free, the United States - now in a tie for 12th place with Switzerland - has been 'treading water'," according to the editors, "and hence has been surpassed by countries willing to open their economies still further".

al Jazeera

[idlisambar]

1. Heritage Foundation nonsense...

Propaganda indeed. Any survey that concludes "Singapore Inc" is the second freest economy on Earth is a joke.

[bemildred]

2. Well, the question is whom that it is that is free, see?

In this case, the thing that is "free" is corporate capital,
and what it is "free" to do is to exploit cheap labor.

[idlisambar]

3. I'll take your overall point...

... but in Singapore's case there is another sense in which the Heritage Foundation is being sloppy. It is true that Singapore is a large trading hub whose economy is deeply integrated with the rest of East Asia, but this alone hardly makes it a neoliberal poster child. Paternalistic Singapore is more a testament to central-guidance than economic "freedom" -- the state has much more of a hand in the economic activities of citizens and businesses alike than in the U.S. Heritage's notion of "free" must be very superficial for Singapore to achieve such a "high" ranking in their list.

[bemildred]

6. And that is well said too.

The contrast between Hong Kong and Singapore could not be
more striking.

It's my opinion that the Heritage's notion of "free" is
constucted on the fly to achieve the desired conclusion,
they don't let issues like consistency impede their flow.

[Inland]

4. ROFL!

In Hong Kong, all the land is owned by the state.
Luxembourg is a fucking monarchy supported by bank holding companies.
Singapore is ruled tighter than put your obscene reference here.

I guess the only country with more economic freedom would be the Confederate States of America, in which people were free to own slaves.

[Massacure]

5. A free middle class is more important than a free economy.

A "free" economy means the middle class gets repressed by big business.

[oecher3]

7. There is a positive aspect though...

besides the pointed out biased Heritage Foundation interpretation. The U.S. has become less free to trade with over the past 4+ years. And just think of how free the contracts by the US government in Iraq have been handled, keyword Halliburton et al. Did other than American companies get a dip on reconstruction contracts? Furthermore, is it something to be proud of, why would the use this as propaganda? It is not really flattering to this administration that tries to find real allies (sorry, Poland just came to mind! No offense!) and on the other hand uses every opportunities to f.o. the UN?
There is an coherent trade off between economic freedom and standard of living, the higher the freedom, the better the standard of living. So in this case, this would be a sign that the standard of living in this country is dripping!
Now this is what I have been saying for a while, that our nice W is not making us better off, he is hurting this country and people.

He is a uniter, in being a hurtificator for most of all of us!

[idlisambar]

8. The purpose of the propaganda...

...is not to say praise the current administration but to pressure it. The ranking exists to give nice sound bites for allied press and lawmakers.