Hong Kong and Singapore top Index; U.S. drops out of the top 10; Economic Freedom Expands Worldwide, with all but two Regions Improving

A Comm-Fascists running the Executive Branch can quickly lower our standards in freedom and corruption! The saddest part is that Hong Kong is the MOST free, but part of Red China in its Special Administrative Region (SAR). The US should be, and once was, the most free according to plan, not according to our corrupt political class. m/r

Economic Freedom Expands Worldwide, with all but two Regions Improving

ECONOMIC FREEDOM EXPANDS WORLDWIDE, WITH ALL BUT TWO REGIONS IMPROVING, 20TH INDEX OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM SHOWS

Hong Kong and Singapore top Index; U.S. drops out of the top 10;
Asia-Pacific is the most-improved region

WASHINGTON, JAN. 14, 2014—In a welcome turnaround, economic freedom is “once again on the rise,” according to the editors of the 20th annual Index of Economic Freedom, released today by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. “Much of the momentum lost during the past five years has been regained.”

The world average score of 60.3—seven-tenths of a point above the 2013 average—is the highest average in the two-decade history of the Index, the editors note. Forty-three countries, including Singapore andSweden, achieved their highest scores yet in the 2014 Index. Among the 178 countries ranked, scores improved for 114 countries and declined for 59. Four recorded no score change.

But the news was not all positive. The United States fell out of the top 10, its score declining enough to leave it in the 12th slot overall. The 2014 Index finds notable declines for the U.S. in fiscal freedom, business freedom and property rights, placing it again behind its neighbor to the north, Canada.

Moreover, the number of people living in economically “unfree” countries remains high: 4.5 billion, or about 65 percent of the world’s population. Twenty-seven countries have “repressed” economies with scores below 50, while only six have earned the Index’s designation of “free” with scores above 80.

“The strongly positive relationship between economic freedom and prosperity is apparent throughout the world,” the editors write. “In every region, per capita incomes are much higher in countries that are economically free.”

Hong Kong and Singapore finished first and second in the rankings for the 20th straight year. Australia, despite a drop in its score, held on to third place, while Switzerland improved enough to leap-frog fifth-place New Zealand and nab the number-four slot. Canada finished sixth again, with nearly full-point gain in its score that put it just behind New Zealand. Chile’s score declined slightly, but it took seventh place.Mauritius, the only Sub-Saharan country to rank among the top 10, was eighth with an overall score of 76.5. Ireland reentered the top 10 to finish ninth, just ahead of Denmark.

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