Ilana, do you know of any country out there that does have unimpeded (moral) freedom, no taxes, etc.? … Or does your phrase “we are doomed” apply to the whole world?

@ Myron: “I would not argue that Somalia has economic freedom because there is no discernible government, rule of law, or whatever but just a bunch of mobs and thugs.”…well, at least there are a couple of Browning machine guns on your house to give you freedom (sort of) 🙂

Examples: When I told her we couldn’t open up a sari-sari (convenience) store in our garage. When I told her we couldn’t build apartments on the back of our lot and rent them out. When I told her we couldn’t bring beer to the beach. Etcetera, Etcetera.

Economic freedom is in the eye of the beholder, I think.

However, LAWS that were envisioned to support rights to life and property were a minimal set against fraud, theft, breaking of contracts, and peaceful settlement of disputes via civil courts. What the US and the so-called free (but really soft authoritarian) countries have are tens of thousands of laws, decrees, regulations – often issued by faceless bureaucrats, understood by no one in particular, and arbitrarily enforced. Most major industries are owned, subsidized, or substantially managed by the government – for example: health care, automobiles, power generation, banking, agriculture, schools, telecommunications, aviation, rails, steel. Megalomaniacs like Mayor Bloomberg would even regulate restaurants. Well, we still beat Belarus!

Dan