printGive me economic freedom over overrated, so-called political liberty anytime.
There’s nothing new about the annual report released by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal crowning Hong Kong as the world’s freest economy. Hong Kong has been so honored for 15 consecutive years.
This via Yahoo News:
“The Chinese territory, known for its low taxes and looser regulations, was followed by Singapore, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, according to this year’s Index of Economic Freedom.
European countries again accounted for half of the top 20 economies considered free or mostly free, with Switzerland at No. 9 and the U.K. at No. 10.
However, the U.S. slid one notch to sixth place, dinged for increased government spending and tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product, one of the survey’s authors said.
Ranking at the bottom was North Korea, followed by next-to-last Zimbabwe, Cuba, Myanmar and Eritrea. The southern African country, whose economy is in meltdown after years of state-endorsed violence and business controls, posted the biggest drop in this year’s report.”
[SNIP]
Again: Forced to choose between “political liberty” and economic freedom, I’d choose the latter, always.
As I once wrote, “freedom will have arrived when elections don’t matter. I’ll consider myself free when … I can sleep through a federal election, because, … Democrat or Republican – in a free society neither will be able to unjustly tamper with me or take what is rightfully mine.”
I agree. Economic freedom trumps political liberty. Even in the Soviet Union, the citizens were able to vote, but I doubt that privilege assuaged a hungry belly.
Consequently, I never understood Bush’s grand vision of bringing democracy to all nations on the globe. Why not drop economic sanctions and allow Americans to trade with these countries instead?
It’s a shame economic and political liberty are so dichotomized in the western world, where the philosophical underpinning of both are so frequently neglected.
A person who cannot afford to go to Hawaii is no better off than a person who is banned from going there. Economic freedom IS political freedom.