Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Britain and Europe losing their economic freedom
Guess who's #1 on the Heritage Index of Economic Freedom this year. It's not who you think. Believe it or not, that honor goes to Hong Kong.
Other countries considered "free" are Singapore, Ireland, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and Canada. Yeah, that last one surprised me too, but if you look closely, we made it in by a margin of 0.2 percent, and had an extremely low score on the "government size" indicator.
But I digress. The point is, there's one glaring absence, one country which has been on the "free" list for years but has now taxed itself into the "mostly free" category: the United Kingdom. It's easy to point to the causes of the slip: years of Labour Party government and a certain socialist idiot who recently took power and announced tax raises that would make any Swedish government proud. Government spending equalled nearly forty-five percent of the UK's GDP last year and it's not going anywhere but up.
Other EU countries have also slipped, Italy and Greece being two of the worst examples - they now rank below most of the former Communist bloc, which themselves are eagerly democratizing. It'll be interesting to compare eastern and western Europe in ten years; I suspect the west will be lagging far behind in economic freedom by then.
Other countries considered "free" are Singapore, Ireland, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and Canada. Yeah, that last one surprised me too, but if you look closely, we made it in by a margin of 0.2 percent, and had an extremely low score on the "government size" indicator.
But I digress. The point is, there's one glaring absence, one country which has been on the "free" list for years but has now taxed itself into the "mostly free" category: the United Kingdom. It's easy to point to the causes of the slip: years of Labour Party government and a certain socialist idiot who recently took power and announced tax raises that would make any Swedish government proud. Government spending equalled nearly forty-five percent of the UK's GDP last year and it's not going anywhere but up.
Other EU countries have also slipped, Italy and Greece being two of the worst examples - they now rank below most of the former Communist bloc, which themselves are eagerly democratizing. It'll be interesting to compare eastern and western Europe in ten years; I suspect the west will be lagging far behind in economic freedom by then.
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It's sad to see Britain fall so far from the times of Thatcher. Unfortuantely, I'm not sure that even David Cameron would have the nerve to fix the problem were he to be elected.
Hong Kong has been on the Top of that Heritage List for years, and it's economic policy can be summed up in two words, "benevolent neglect". The Brits didn;t give a hoot what HK citizens did as long as it didn't present a political challenge...so while they were regulating themselves into economic oblivion, they didn't bother to put HK under the same limitations..oh, the irony.
Anyway, HK leaves much to be desired in the way of political freedom, but they have it figured out when it comes to economics. (I had the chance to visit their trade mission to the U.S. while I was interning with the Heritage Foundation and talked to some of their diplomets persoanlly...they would put any U.S. fiscal conservative to shame)
Hong Kong has been on the Top of that Heritage List for years, and it's economic policy can be summed up in two words, "benevolent neglect". The Brits didn;t give a hoot what HK citizens did as long as it didn't present a political challenge...so while they were regulating themselves into economic oblivion, they didn't bother to put HK under the same limitations..oh, the irony.
Anyway, HK leaves much to be desired in the way of political freedom, but they have it figured out when it comes to economics. (I had the chance to visit their trade mission to the U.S. while I was interning with the Heritage Foundation and talked to some of their diplomets persoanlly...they would put any U.S. fiscal conservative to shame)
I'm not surprised, Europe's been going that way for years.
And the Democrats think it's a good thing to follow. Scary.
And the Democrats think it's a good thing to follow. Scary.
I agree with Robert. It's very scary! The UK is going down the tubes so fast I can't keep up with it. I'm extremely grateful that although I'm almost 100% English heritage that I wasn't born there.
The really, really sad thing is that the British government is doing everything it's getting away with by confusing or going around the public. Unlike in Canada, where the people rally round government stupidity faster than lemmings round a cliff, in Britain it seems to me that the average man-in-the-street has no particular desire to see the country go the way it's going. And yet it goes.
Another set of statistics:
Corporate tax rates-
US 39.3%
Britain 30%
Denmark 28%
Norway 28%
Sweden 28%
Kind of interesting, those 'socialist countries'...
RE: http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/1471.html
Corporate tax rates-
US 39.3%
Britain 30%
Denmark 28%
Norway 28%
Sweden 28%
Kind of interesting, those 'socialist countries'...
RE: http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/1471.html
Europe and the United States need to work harder and smarter from within. Both Countries have internal problems that need to be fixed. The United States can be cleaner, safer, smarter and a better country all around. Then we can help the rest of the world. I think many people and companies in the United States have gotten lazy. We need to stop drinking, using drugs and attacking others for their views. Only then can we rebuild this country from within. We also need to see some real news and issues on TV like the link network. Most news on today is crap and is making America dumber.
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: 1/3/08 20:23
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