This is overwhelming. How can Canada, Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland and New Zealand rank higher than the US in the world economic freedom index??
I believe AE would think of these countries as socialists, unproductive, unfree with big governments.
What then do you think is wrong with the US?? We are clearly not Socialist in anyway and our business/entrepreneurship is below those we regard as socialist.
That’s because the US is fascist.
What’s tough about the Swiss being freer than Americans? I believe its evident to anyone who’s been to Switzerland.
They are actually very capitalist countries with very meticulous property rights, and a lot less statism in many areas than the US. The US is not that free market any more, it has an out of control expropriatory elite and intervention that even the Euros would think of as crazy. And it’s a high inflationary regime. These countries were declared “socialist” by the left because they are well-functioning and have a little welfare. If you’re looking for a socialist country, try China or Haiti, or most of Africa where they don’t even have secure property rights. Fricking Ireland and Australia are at the extreme end of the most capitalist countries in the world.
National socialist, not fascist. Fascism was solely a Italian inter-war phenomenon. It became a slander for anything ‘extremely mean’ we disagree with.
https://forum.freecapitalists.org/t/misuse-of-the-term-liberal/17382/50
https://forum.freecapitalists.org/t/fascism-vs-socialism/14182/13
The exact definition and taxonomy of the term fascism is debatable even among those who study the subject exhaustively. I believe national socialism to be a subset of fascist ideology. Some could argue just the opposite. One thing for sure, there does exist more than a few common threads between them.
The name originates from the Roman fasces. The ideology actually formulated in 19th century France, with influences from as early as Julius Caesar.
Fascism definitely had it’s moment on the stage in the early to middle 20th century with both Mussolini and Hitler receiving the world’s attention. Perhaps it is this association with two of the more notorious characters that causes some to pause before declaring any regime since as “fascist”. In fact the term has become more of a derogatory slur used against one’s opponent.
When speaking in terms of economics; corporatism, economic planning and social intervention are very strong traits of a fascist regime (although each fascist regime had their own nuances). The US definitely has corporatism in play, everyone and their mother has a “plan”, and they are highly active in social intervention. This is true regardless of which political party you look at.
I think fascism and national socialism has come to be used synonymously whether or not it’s accurate. My main point in calling the US fascist was simply to point out it is not the free capitalistic nation that it claims to be. “It” and “they” being the political elite who wants to seize and maintain power.
I’m not entirely clear on how any of these countries but Denmark (which I know about solely through second hand anecdotes) could possibly be considered socialist in a way that would exclude the US.
If this is the AEI’s economic freedom index, it rates several factors related to the “freedom” of an economy, such as how easy it is to open a business, protection of property rights, etc. The USA has been falling down the list recently, and for good reason… consider how the Federal Government has been intruding on free commerce… Boeing was not allowed to open a plant in SC because it’s not a union state, the Feds actually own auto companies, the oil industry in the Gulf has all but shut down because of the drilling ban, and companies are moving out. This is not even considering the numerous regulations that effectively act as a barrier to opening a new business enterprise. I was actually surprised that the US was as high as it was in the last rating, but I suppose there are so many countries that are even more “socialist” in their leanings these days…
I’ve always thought that socialism is a broad concept that encompasses both Fascism and Communism. Fascism is nation state socialism and communism is international socialism. They can both be imperialist easily. Fascism allows corporations to go out and seek “good deals” with the full force of the military behind it (very US contemporary). Communism views all international trade as exploitation as the communist system cannot fathom mutually beneficial transactions. They either swindle or get swindled and this causes them to move to take over trade parter’s markets. This way everything is calculated “properly” by the authorities of production and distribution.
Lenin and Trotsky knew that the US was going to be taken over by the corporations and trusts.
I consider some of them actually more capitalist than the US. Just because they have more social programs or bigger as a % of GDP does not make them “socialist”. Maybe their “Social” emblem works somehow.
I agree with you. Corporatism is the way to understand America’s politics & economics.
In regards to economics I thought socialism was was when the government has a complete monopoly over a specific industry and removed all price mechanisms and profit motive from the industry. An example of that would be rubbish collection in the UK. Where it can even run at a loss and continue on.
While an example of fascism (italian fascism, not authortarian associated fascism) would be network rail. Where it is still a government enabled monopoly but the organistion operates for profit and is considered a private entity by socialists.
But I thought that the economic freedom index was inaccurate, I saw that guy from china explaining how he thought china’s economy was free’er than the USA and used an example of delivery company. Where he pointed out that china was something like 66 on the chart and he thought that was incorrect.
Do you think that the freedom index is accurate and am i wrong about socialism and fascism examples?
The world does not run in absolute terms anymore my friend. No more white & black. Its mostly grey…Now the question is how much grey is there?? Well that is up to ones appreciation and opinion.
In my personal opinion, I consider this index a tool to see what’s going on and how it is evaluated. I also think that some of the countries named here are more socialist and more capitalist than the US. Perhaps that’s why their lifestyle is often seen as better.