Heritage Foundation ‘Index Of Economic Freedom’ Reveals America Has Lowest Score In Project’s History | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Ben Zeisloft.

    The Index of Economic Freedom published annually by researchers at the Heritage Foundation indicated on Monday that the degree of liberty offered by the American economy has continued to decline over the past year.

    The conservative think tank granted the United States a rating of 70.6, constituting a decline of 1.5 points since last year and the nation's lowest score in the history of the project. The "size and scope of government" was identified as one of the most salient factors weighing upon the American economy.

    "The world and America are at a crossroads. Too many countries have renounced basic economic principles leaving communities to suffer the consequences," Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said in a press release. "They must choose either the narrow path of self-governance, human dignity, and ordered liberty, or the broad path of an economy run by the managerial elite with no room for dissent or responsibility. One path leads to prosperity, and the other leads to ruin."

    The United States retained high ratings in categories such as property rights, investment freedom, and business freedom. The nation's lowest ranking comes in the domain of government spending since public debt is more than 128% of gross domestic product.

    "The United States has one of the world's most dynamic economies but has been undergoing policy challenges that undermine its long-term economic competitiveness," the think tank said. "Since assuming office in 2021, President Joseph Biden has pursued and implemented policies that have expanded the size and scope of the federal government. Unchecked deficit spending and government debt have accelerated, and inflation undercuts economic livelihood."

    Biden has claimed that he presided over a "record decrease" in deficit spending over the past two years. Although he oversaw a decline in the deficit from $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020 and $2.8 trillion in fiscal year 2021 to $1.4 trillion in fiscal year 2022, according to data from the Office of Management and Budget, he has failed to mention that the record spending occurred as a result of legislation passed to mitigate fallout from the lockdown-induced recession. The deficit posted last year still significantly exceeds those witnessed in the years before the crisis.

    Although the United States ranked twenty-fifth in both the 2022 and 2023 indices, the global average economic freedom score declined from 60.0 to 59.3 over the same period. Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland, and Taiwan are the world's highest-ranked economies for economic liberty.

    Heritage Foundation research fellow Anthony Kim commented that the environmental, social, and corporate governance movement, also known as ESG, has inhibited the economies of the United States and other nations. "Economic freedom correlates significantly with overall well-being, which includes such factors as health, education, the environment, innovation, societal progress, and democratic governance," he said in the press release. "The true path to ensuring environmental, social, and governance improvements lies in focusing on policies that enhance economic freedom."

    Critics of the ESG movement assert that the investment philosophy seeks outcomes in social causes, such as reducing carbon emissions and achieving racial diversity, in a manner that compromises or distracts from profit maximization. The movement is popular in Europe and elsewhere in the developed world.

poll#164

It has been far too many years since the Woke theology interlaced its canons within the fabric of the Indoctrination Realm, so it is nigh time to ask: Does this Representative Republic continue, as a functioning society of a self-governed people, by contending with the unusual, self absorbed dictates of the Woke, and their vast array of Victimhood scenarios?

  Yes, the Religion of Woke must continue; there are so many groups of underprivileged, underserved, a direct result of unrelenting Inequity; they deserve everything.

  No; the Woke fools must be toppled from their self-anointed pedestal; a functioning society of a good Constitutional people cannot withstand this level of "existential" favoritism as it exists now.

  I just observe; with this thoughtful observation: What will happen "when the Vikings are breeching our walls;" how do the Woke react?

845 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?

poll#169

Considering how abjectly corrupt and civilly abusive the Left has become regarding the corrosive effect of their elected leaders; their entrenched and ruling bureaucracy; employing their failed Education Industry as Indoctrinators; their collusive private sector operators, such as the terminally discredited Legacy Media and Big Tech censorship of Free Speech: What will be the best course forward for hardworking Middle Americans, including the Patriot Class?

  Withdraw from society, go underground and plan for a resurgence when it is feasible to do so.

  Work within the confines of better policy by the People's government, once good sense and sanity is restored in the electorate at large, to achieve such.

  Are you a crazy, nut-job Insurrectionist? Everything is perfect within our plan to achieve our intended goals for the Socialist Left.

  Secession to form a true Constitutional Republic.

437 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?

poll#170

Considering what has happened to our Representative Republic since the corruptive orthodoxy that led to the tolerated abomination - The Russia Hoax - where felonies were perpetrated upon the American People by the creation of the Two Tiered Justice System, in the misnomer of "Social Justice:" Where do you stand on sustaining our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in a society where injustice is chronically sanctioned by one political orthodoxy?

  I believe in a perfected society by employing a higher governmental authority to train the behavior of the public.

  The United States Constitution does not allow just a few freedoms, it guarantees ALL freedoms promised to Humankind by God.

  Just don't take away my Social Media.

420 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?