Canada More Economically Free Than US

[snousle]

The Heritage Foundation has found that Canada offers more economic freedom than the United States. Didn't see that one coming! But their reasoning makes sense. Most interesting are the big differences in "fiscal freedom" and "financial freedom". In particular: The U.S. financial sector has undergone drastic changes since the sub-prime mortgage crisis began in mid-2007, substantially reducing economic freedom.

Neither analysis says much about health care - IMHO, a major reason for the superior economic freedom in Canada is the uncoupling of health care from employment. This makes it much easier to change jobs, or start a new business, making for a more flexible and dynamic economy that can take better advantage of new opportunities.

Comments

[men-in-full.livejournal.com]

Also found it interesting that out of the world's top 10 economically-freest countries, at least two others above the US are commonly thought of here as "more socialist" (Australia and NZ.)

[snousle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the use of the term "socialist" is so loose that contradictions like this are inevitable. This highlights the widening gap between principled conservatism and the populist rabble-rousing that has replaced it in the US. Tell the average teabagger that one of the most conservative foundations in the country considers these economies more "free" and their heads explode!

[bbearseviltwin.livejournal.com]

"Tell the average teabagger that one of the most conservative foundations in the country considers these economies more "free" and their heads explode!"
Well that would be a way of getting rid of them, and will give employment to clean up crews all across the country.

[oscarlikesbugsy.livejournal.com]

Must be their twisted effort to recast the World Economic Forum's Annual Competitiveness report.

As expected, their idea of "freedom" is laissez-faire, or, as some Europeans (and others) call it, "casino capitalism".

I always think of Switzerland and many others on the list as having closed labor markets, in the sense that it is very difficult to just move their for a job.

[oscarlikesbugsy.livejournal.com]

er, "there", not "their".