Long a symbol of economic prosperity, America for the first time no longer ranks among the top 10 free nations of the world, according to The 2005 Index of Economic Freedom, just released by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.
“The United States is resting on its laurels while innovative countries around the world are changing their approaches and reducing their roadblocks,” said Marc Miles, a co-editor of the book, along with Ed Feulner and Mary Anastasia O’Grady. “The U.S. is eating the dust of countries that have thrown off the 20th-century shackles of big government spending and massive federal programs.”
The top 10 countries are: Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand, U.K., Denmark, Iceland and Australia, followed by Chile.
[Sources: Heritage Foundation, NewsMax]
[Via: Business Opportunities Weblog]
Hey, cool new redesign 🙂
whats US ranked are they 12th?
Roba, Thanks 🙂
The redesign is a work in progress that has been going on for a while now, with little elements changing here and there sort of like a natural evolution.
I’m happy you like it 🙂
Niveen, yes USA is a tie with Switzerland for 12th place in the Index.
Nice read. Keep it going. Spiderfriend333
The top 50 freest nations are as follows…
1.estonia 2.finland 3.netherlands 4.iceland
5.norway 6.sweden 7.switzerland 8.denmark
9.liechtenstein 10.australia 11.lithuania
12.luxembourg 13.ireland 14.slovakia
15.malta 16.canada 17.germany 18.austria
19.czech republic 20.belgium 21.latvia
22.romania 23.united kingdom 24.spain 26.chile 27.hungary 28.italy
29.united states 30.poland 31.portugal 32.san marino 33.greece 34.cyprus 35.andorra
36.argentina 37.south africa 38.israel 39.monaco 40.botswana 41.sri lanka 42.japan
43.taiwan 44.uruguay 45.slovenia 46.macau
47.cape verde 48.mauritius 49.benin 50.mexico
The top 50 freest nations are as follows…
1.estonia 2.finland 3.netherlands 4.iceland
5.norway 6.sweden 7.switzerland 8.denmark
9.liechtenstein 10.australia 11.lithuania
12.luxembourg 13.ireland 14.slovakia
15.malta 16.canada 17.germany 18.austria
19.czech republic 20.belgium 21.latvia
22.romania 23.united kingdom 24.spain 25.chile 26.hungary 27.italy 28.mauritius
29.united states 30.poland 31.portugal 32.san marino 33.greece 34.cyprus 35.andorra
36.argentina 37.south africa 38.israel 39.monaco 40.botswana 41.sri lanka 42.japan
43.taiwan 44.uruguay 45.slovenia 46.macau
47.cape verde 48.barbados 49.benin 50.mexico
So what is this list based on. I seriously hope there are countries with more individual freedom then the US but I grew up in Canada and fail to see how it could be higher on this list. Taxes are much higher, like 50% of your total income. There are just as many, probably many more, stupid bureaucratic laws. Every single thing you want to do requires a permit, a fee, a tax, an inspection ect… Some things, including free-speech and gun laws, are much more restrictive.