Personal Freedom on the Decline Worldwide: U.S. ranks 17th

[OfTheCross]

https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2020-12/human-freedom-index-2020.pdf
Human Freedom Index

The index published here presents a broad measure of human freedom, understood as the absence of coercive constraint. This sixth annual index uses 76 distinct indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas:

Rule of Law
Security and Safety
Movement
Religion
Association, Assembly, and Civil Society
Expression and Information
Identity and Relationships
Size of Government
Legal System and Property Rights
Access to Sound Money
Freedom to Trade Internationally
Regulation of Credit, Labor, and Business

The jurisdictions that took the top 10 places, in order, were New Zealand, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Estonia, and Germany and Sweden (tied in 9th place). Selected countries rank as follows: Japan (11), the United Kingdom and the United States (tied in 17th place), Taiwan (19), South Korea (26), Chile (30), France (33), South Africa (68), Argentina (70), Mexico (86), Brazil (88), Kenya (93), India (111), Russia (115), Turkey (119), China (129), Saudi Arabia (151), Egypt (157), Iran (158), Venezuela (160), and Syria (162).



not terrible

 

[hashmander]

we already had one cato stooge in @DEAD7, now we have another? jeez.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Take it with a grain of salt, it is an American libertarian site doing the rankings.

The fact that year in and year out, even the libertarians have to admit that those "liberal socialist" countries are more free than us should tell us something. But the ones who pretend to care actually don't.

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

hong kong is number three

 

[DEAD7]

Take it with a grain of salt, it is an American libertarian site doing the rankings.

The fact that year in and year out, even the libertarians have to admit that those "liberal socialist" countries are more free than us should tell us something. But the ones who pretend to care actually don't.

Libertarians know they arent socialist.

 

[DEAD7]

Imagine a U.S. politician proposing lax gun ownership laws for semi auto and fully auto firearms and abolishing the min wage like in switzerland
Hell, i dont even think placing majority of the tax burden on the middle class as most of the top nations on this list do would fly here.

New Zealand property taxes apply just to the value of land rather than real estate or other improvements to the landI'd love to see this in the states.

 

[DEAD7]

hong kong is number three

For now

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Libertarians know they arent socialist.

Lol - that's their new argument now that they see people increasingly attracted to the model, but they've mostly been committed in attacking the Scandinavian states. 20 years ago they were attacking Nordic nations like Denmark, suggesting they were "reaching the end of the road." This is what Mises used to write about Denmark:

Danish politicians proudly proclaims that Denmark is the most egalitarian country in the world. They may be right. The obsession with equality delivers a crushing, daily blow to anyone with a new idea or the inkling to cultivate an ability that surpasses the norm. Young people have virtually no chance to improve their lot in life, to take risks, to make it big through innovation and entrepreneurship.

Excellent and hard work are not rewarded by a system that systematically levels the population into a huge homogenous middle class, whose standard of living advances only incrementally and in ways that flout economic priorities. A total tax level that approaches 70 percent is a relentless and debilitating reminder that this country desires no personal economic achievement and no accumulation of wealth.

And yet many people seem to be happy with this system, somewhat like the masses of Huxley's Brave New World. Of course it sets up a dynamic that harms everyone in the long run, but people don't seem to understand or care about this. Equality and stability are regarded as more important than progress and freedom.

A heritage of honesty and hard work are marvelous tools for papering over the failures of welfarism and subtle servitude. With the right attitude, even a prison population can settle into a comfortable and egalitarian existence, one that might even impress Queen Catherine passing by on a boat. But lacking energy, enterprise, entrepreneurship, and freedom, such systems of economic control exact a huge toll with the passage of time.

They also wrote lengthy articles attacking Denmark's "central planning" and criticizing the Economic Freedom Index and claiming it over-rated "welfare states" like Sweden and Denmark and promoted books like Scandinavian Unexceptionalism: Culture, Markets, and the Failure of Third-Way Socialism.


It's true that in those academic writings when they're attacking Scandinavian countries for lacking freedom and opportunity they usually avoid the S-word, but populist libertarians like Ron Paul claim that even central banking is socialism and Elizabeth Warren is a socialist cause she supports public schools and the federal highway system.

Imagine a U.S. politician proposing lax gun ownership laws for semi auto and fully auto firearms and abolishing the min wage like in switzerland

You're being disingenuous again. Switzerland has stricter gun laws than the USA and far better wage protections.

In Switzerland you have to get an acquisition license if you want to buy a new handgun, the license is only good for 6 months and you can only use it to buy 1 handgun. The background checks for people pursuing licenses are more extensive than in most American states and local authorities keep a log of everyone who has purchased a gun. Concealed Carry licenses are also more difficult to acquire in Switzerland than in most US states - you have to take an extensive examination as well as prove that you are proficient with the gun and that you have a demonstrated need to carry one to protect against real danger, and they are not issued often. People are not allowed to open-carry their rifles like they do here and you must keep your gun unloaded at all times while transported it. You have to get a special permit to own a semiauto with a high capacity magazine, and part of the permit requires that you show you are part of a shooting club or a collector. And far more categories of weapons are banned in Switzerland than in the USA, even including tasers, brass knuckles, and throwing knives.

With all those regulations, currently there are only about 10 registered guns per 100 Swiss citizens, or about 10% of the US rate.


In terms of minimum wage, Switzerland doesn't see the need for a federal minimum wage law mostly because all industries have very strong unions with wage protections far higher than in the USA. But there are still local minimum wage laws in Switzerland. Geneva just approved a minimum wage of $25/hour, the highest in the entire world.

 

[DEAD7]

In terms of minimum wage, Switzerland doesn't see the need for a federal minimum wage law mostly because all industries have very strong unions with wage protections far higher than in the USA. But there are still local minimum wage laws in Switzerland. Geneva just approved a minimum wage of $25/hour, the highest in the entire world.

Do you think abolishing the min wage in conjunction with strengthening unions is something politically tenable in the U.S.
Its DOA in my opinion.

Our economy and social fabrics are just too different.

 

[DEAD7]

Lol - that's their new argument now that they see people increasingly attracted to the model

They arent socialist.
They are capitalist.
Had Bernie went with Scandinavian capitalism, instead of socialism he may have won the primary.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Hell, i dont even think placing majority of the tax burden on the middle class as most of the top nations on this list do would fly here.

New Zealand property taxes apply just to the value of land rather than real estate or other improvements to the landI'd love to see this in the states.

You're right that many nations place a higher tax burden on the middle class, but that's partially a function of them having far better income equality and far better services for the middle class. When the gains of GDP growth aren't going solely to the top, when heath care is affordable for everyone, when everyone can get a quality K-12 education and go to college or trade school without indebting themselves for life, it becomes much easier to pay a reasonable tax rate.

Not saying shyt is perfect there - there are real inequality issues in NZ. But not as bad as the USA.

Do you think abolishing the min wage in conjunction with strengthening unions is something politically tenable in the U.S.
Its DOA in my opinion.

Our economy and social fabrics are just to different.

Of course it's not - which is why, right now, a high minimum wage is an absolute necessity in a manner that it isn't in Switzerland.

But that's nothing "natural" about us - if it were, then the corporate elite wouldn't have had to work so hard over the last 150 years, even to the point of mass killings, in order to destroy union power.

 

[DEAD7]

But that's nothing "natural" about us - if it were, then the corporate elite wouldn't have had to work so hard over the last 150 years, even to the point of mass killings, in order to destroy union power.

Just saying those nations are not socialist and enforce strong property rights.

 

[OfTheCross]

Take it with a grain of salt, it is an American libertarian site doing the rankings.

The fact that year in and year out, even the libertarians have to admit that those "liberal socialist" countries are more free than us should tell us something. But the ones who pretend to care actually don't.

hong kong is number three

These were pretty much my two reactions when I saw the report