Economic Freedom

                The 2016 Economic Freedom Index was released this week.  The Index measures nations on ten key criteria:  (1) property rights, (2) freedom from corruption, (3) fiscal freedom,

(4) government spending, (5) business freedom, (6), labor freedom, (7) monetary freedom, (8) trade freedom,

(9) investment freedom, and (10) financial freedom.  I found it very interesting that the Index was “released on the same day the national debt topped $19 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history.”  

                The United States of America did not make the top ten countries with the most economic freedom.  According to this index the top ten economically free countries are:  (1) Hong Kong, (2) Singapore, (3) New Zealand, (4) Switzerland, (5) Australia, (6) Canada, (7) Chile, (8) Ireland, (9) Estonia, and (10) United Kingdom.  The USA is in 11^th place out of approximately 200 nations.  

                How could that happen in so few years?  The USA was in 6th place when Barack Obama took office.  How can any sane person claim we are better off today than we were seven years ago? 

                According to Representative Dave Brat (R-Va) one of the reasons that the United States ended the year at #11 is “because of slower than normal economic growth, citing trillions of dollars’ worth of unfunded liabilities and an annual federal budget deficit projected to reach $544 billion by the end of Fiscal Year 2016…. You cannot have economic growth without economic freedom.”

                I hope Americans think long and hard about the direction we are going in economic freedom.  Do you want to live in a nation that is economically free?  If so, are you going to vote for a presidential candidate that will act to change the direction we are heading?  If so, you must look carefully at what the candidates stand for and listen to their words.  Bernie Sanders openly states that he is a socialist, and Hilary Clinton praises the work of Mr. Obama.  That is your choice if you insist on showing your insanity by voting for a Democrat.  Some of the Republicans are much better than what the Democrat Party is offering but not all of them.  I believe we can trust Ted Cruz, but I am not sure about Donald Trump or Marco Rubio.  We need to be sure that we elect a President that we can trust to do what is right for our nation!