'the us loses ground on economic freedom'

Terry Miller, director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage Foundation, writing in The Wall Street Journal (go here to read the full column):

"...Is it the end of capitalism? Many were predicting just that last year. The 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, released today by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, tells a different story...One hundred and seventeen countries, mainly developing and emerging market economies, improved their scores..."

Despite the global trend, there is cause for concern.

"...The U.S. dropped to 9th place in the 2011 Index, with its lowest economic freedom score in a decade...Those who fear we are losing economic vitality and leadership to Asia have cause for concern. Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand dominate the top of the economic freedom rankings. Economic growth rates in those countries averaged 6.8 percent in 2010.

"On the diplomatic front, U.S. economic leadership is being seriously challenged for the first time since World War II. U.S. pleas for more government spending and tighter market regulation have fallen on deaf ears at recent meetings of the G-20. And many countries around the world, particularly those whose economies have emerged from the deprivations of communism, show no desire to return to the government domination of the past."

So while the rest of the world emerges from the shadow of post-World War II collectivism, the United States is burrowings its head into that ashheap. Hope and change, indeed.

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