Within a span of just a few hours this week, three seemingly unrelated events all, by happenstance, made headlines in America: the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s inauguration, a historically earthshaking election in Massachusetts, and the release of The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. But perhaps there are no coincidences in life. What narrative arc ties these headlines together? Our Index revealed today that the United States is no longer as economically free as it once was (and, in fact, dropped out of the “free” category altogether); President Obama …
Scott Brown’s shocking victory in Massachusetts on Tuesday was a shot across the bow of the liberal ruling class in Washington and declared one clear message: Americans do not like the direction the country is heading, and they’re not going to stand for it, even in the solidly-blue Bay State. The United States’ direction today is a dangerous one, even when compared to the country’s state of affairs just one year ago, as revealed in the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, which we are releasing this morning in a joint …
The dramatic surge in support for Germany’s pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), which received “a record 14.6% of the vote” according to the Wall Street Journal in elections on Sunday, September 27, has given Angela Merkel a second term as German Chancellor via the center-right coalition that the FDP will form with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and its Bavarian sister party (the CSU). The center-left Social Democrats suffered their worst defeat in 60 years. FDP supporters want to create the lasting prosperity that comes from empowering the individual …
Although the timing of its release may be a coincidence, Pope Benedict XVI’s recently published encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (Charity in Truth), sets the stage for his meeting on July 10 with President Obama. As readers around the world continue to reflect on the 30,000-word encyclical, many would like to read in it support for Obama’s all-out push for massive government intervention in the economies of the world’s nations. But the encyclical makes strong endorsements of the market-based economic principles necessary for people everywhere to enjoy economic freedom and growth. …
For 15 years, The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation have been measuring countries’ commitment to free-market capitalism in the “Index of Economic Freedom.” The 2009 Index, published this week, provides strong evidence that the countries that maintain the freest economies do the best job of promoting prosperity for all citizens. The positive correlation between economic freedom and national income is confirmed yet again by this year’s data. The freest countries enjoy per capita incomes over 10 times higher than those in countries ranked as “repressed.” This year, for …
After extensive discussion and debate, the 6th African Resource Bank concluded with the group agreeing to a number of consensus positions on how African nations can better utilize their natural resources to raise the living standards of their people. While there are too many to cover in full, a couple of major themes arose. The overall consensus was that private business and investment in the natural resources sector – and in general – are critical to development and improving standards of living in African countries. The group agreed that governments …
This year was indeed historic for Latin America. Fidel Castro finally stepped down from power and handed the reins to his brother Raul. According to a panelist at a recent event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Raul, unlike his brother, is no charismatic political leader; he is a military man, a manager of bureaucracy. Does that matter? Perhaps. The panelists also made clear Fidel will most certainly not return to power due to deteriorating health, though he still does manage to “put his foot down” from time …
According to the Tax Policy Center, Barack Obama plans raise the tax burden on all Americans by $627.1 billion over the next 10 years. Defending this policy on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Joe Biden told Americans they should enjoy paying higher taxes because “it’s time to be patriotic … time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut.”Apparently, the rest of the world does not view higher taxes as “patriotic” as Biden does. Over the last decade almost every …
Despite claims from the opposition party that they won 50.3% of the vote from the weekend’s presidential election, Zimbabwe’s state-run newspaper claimed today that no one had reached 50% and that a runoff election between the 28-year incumbent Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was likely. The International Herald Tribune reports that a runoff is just one of the many options Mugabe’s government considered when faced with their electoral defeat: A Zimbabwean businessman with close links to the governing party, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the nation’s military …
…means to be controlled in everything,” Friedrich Hayek wrote in 1944. And every year The Wall Street Journal’s and Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom produces data to backup Hayek’s claims. This year 7 of the 10 countries identified as “the most systematic human rights violators”(North Korea, Burma, Iran, Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, and Belarus) by the State Department’s human rights report are classified as “repressed” economies by the Index. An individuals basic economic rights to work, produce, save, and consume without coercion are all considered in a country’s Index rating. …
