United States has slipped to 18th in Economic Freedom

This could be a good discussion topic. Doesn't sound like we are going in a good direction IMO.
Personally, I would prefer more economic freedom and personal responsibility and less government control and mandates for everything in life.

The U.S. has moved down 10 places over the last decade, the top Canadian think-tank said in its annual report on economic freedom around the globe.

From 1980 to 2000, the U.S. was generally rated the third freest economy in the world, ranking behind only Hong Kong and Singapore, according to Fraser.

“The chain-linked ranking of the United States has fallen precipitously from second in 2000 to eighth in 2005 and 19th in 2010 (unadjusted ranking of 18th),” the report said.

The rankings are based on size of government, legal system and property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation.

From the Fraser Report

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/annual- ... om-bahrain

And both parties like to steal economic freedom from American business. Favoring big coporations they introduce regulations that smaller companies find financially onerous to follow.
More special interest pandering.

Perhaps if our government, especially Congress, spent more time on the economics of our country and less on religion, women's health, regulations to monitor our personal lives, issues that should be personal decisions not government dictated choices, and their own upcoming election......then we would have a better economic future. Both parties are way too involved in what WE are doing and less involved in where our country is headed. I honestly think that both parties are guilty of being Democrats and Republicans and not Americans.

This year’s index shows that Hong Kong retains the highest rating for economic freedom, 8.90 out of 10. The other top 10 nations are: Singapore (8.69); New Zealand (8.36); Switzerland (8.24); Australia (7.97); Canada (7.97); Bahrain (7.94); Mauritius (7.90); Finland (7.88) and Chile (7.84).

Wow, imagine that. A bunch of socialist nations are ahead of the U.S. in economic freedom.

archer wrote: Both parties are way too involved in what WE are doing and less involved in where our country is headed. I honestly think that both parties are guilty of being Democrats and Republicans and not Americans.

I agree... both parties do what is necessary to keep their power, which seems to be a bigger priority than doing what is necessary to pull the country out of this hole. This is why people like me want a more government accountability and more scrutiny from both sides of the media.

Raees wrote:
Wow, imagine that. A bunch of socialist nations are ahead of the U.S. in economic freedom.

Meaning what exactly... socialism is better?

Heisenberg wrote:

Raees wrote:
Wow, imagine that. A bunch of socialist nations are ahead of the U.S. in economic freedom.

Meaning what exactly... socialism is better?

Maybe what conservatives have been calling "socialism" is really good economic policy and not socialism at all.

Economic freedom is only indirectly related to political freedom. Hong Kong & Singapore are great places to make money but you better watch what you say.

And here you can say whatever you want, just check some people's Twitter feeds.

Heisenberg wrote:

Raees wrote:
Wow, imagine that. A bunch of socialist nations are ahead of the U.S. in economic freedom.

Meaning what exactly... socialism is better?

Meaning a bunch of socialist countries are ahead of the U.S. in economic freedom. Draw your own conclusion from that.

Raees wrote:

Heisenberg wrote:

Raees wrote:
Wow, imagine that. A bunch of socialist nations are ahead of the U.S. in economic freedom.

Meaning what exactly... socialism is better?

Meaning a bunch of socialist countries are ahead of the U.S. in economic freedom. Draw your own conclusion from that.

I want to know what your conclusion is since you are the one that made the statement. I know what socialism is and I prefer capitalism which is what gave the people in this country such a high standard of living. What would this country look like if it was primarily socialist from the beginning? I don't think we would recognize it.