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US Falls Behind Canada, Finland, And Hong Kong In Human Freedom Index
Submitted by MPN News Desk via TheAntiMedia.org,
The United States lags far behind other developed countries in terms of personal, civil and economic freedoms, according to a study released this month. Its neighbor to the north, for example, ranked 14 spots ahead of the so-called “Land of the Free.”
Three international think tanks — the U.S.-based Cato Institute, Canada’s Fraser Institute, and Germany’s Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom — released the Human Freedom Index earlier this month. In addition to major civil liberties, the study considers safety and rule of law, relative size of government and capitalist values like the soundness of money, property rights, and access to international trade. The authors used a total of 70 data sources ranging from 2008 to 2012, the most recent year for which all necessary data is currently available.
According to the report,
“The top 10 jurisdictions in order were Hong Kong, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.”
The U.S. ranks 20th, while Myanmar, Congo and Iran round out the bottom of the list of 152 countries.
Commenting on Canada’s high ranking compared to the U.S., Fred McMahon, the editor of the study, told the Toronto Sun:
“Canada doesn’t lead in a single area, but it’s high on all areas, like economic freedom … We have a very strong rule of law, good on safety and security. You can’t really have freedom without safety and security. And of course, in what you might call political freedoms and associations, speech and so on, we’re also top of the class.”
McMahon cited the U.S. war on terror, recent changes to property rights, and the ongoing effects of the 2008 financial crisis for the country’s poor ranking. “The U.S. has declined incredibly over the past decade- and-a-half,” he told the Sun last week, adding:
“The U.S. is known as the ‘Land of liberty’ and Canada is known as ‘The land of good governance,’ so it’s a little surprising that a country whose motto hinges on good government as a motto is well-ahead of a country whse motto hinges on liberty.”
Hong Kong’s high ranking may seem surprising, but the index does not attempt to measure democracy, and this year’s report doesn’t take into account recent pro-democracy protests in the country and the subsequent government crackdown.
This wasn’t the only recent study to take issue with civil liberties in America. In February, Reporters Without Borders announced that the U.S. had dropped three places in its “World Press Freedom Index” as a result of a “‘war on information’ by the Obama administration” and a crackdown on reporters’ abilities to freely report on events like the Ferguson protests, where trespassing charges were recently leveled against two journalists for their work documenting last year’s uprising following the death of Michael Brown.
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Free-dumb
They 'Hate us for our freedom!". Obviously that is not the reasoon. If that were true the 19 countries above USSA would be blown away the terrorists. Wake up!
That is so true.
They don’t ‘Hate us for our freedom. What a dumb idea. Instead, they envy us for our freedom. I’m going to suggest something a little bit counter-intuitive here. That is, the United States is actually the country with the greatest freedom of any country on the list.
The reason I say this is because of the difference the U.S. dollar allows for the actual exercise of freedom versus the measuries listed here, enabling only theoretical freedom. The US$ is the reserve currency of the world. This is undeniable. I know many here will say that the dollar is on it’s last legs but nothing could be further from the truth. The so-called BRICS are in turmoil despite the renewed life of the SCO, precisely because of the dollar’s strength. Look at China. Its renminbi is hardly able to compete with the dollar, sending the mandarins of the People’s Republic scurrying for cover to adjust their currency peg to the dollar while the ruble is a mere ink stain compared to the dollar’s depth and breadth of FX market share.
The dollar allows Americans a stability of prices unparalllelled in the developed world. Not even the Swiss franc can compete with the U.S. dollar. This freedom of markets provides all Americans with a lifestyle which is the envy of every single country on your list. That is real freedom, real haters of ZH!
"Hate us for our Freedom" was one of the Brainchild Bush's propaganda terms to capture the feeble, gruberized Sheeple minds. Eric Fromm and other philosophers address these issues how politicans/dictators/invaders need to invent some catchy phrases usually to do with vague concepts like "Freedom" or "religion" [gots to get those Jews was Hitlers], race, and so on. Remember how successful he was? Over 85% of USA peeples polled supported the doomed invasion of eye-rack.
So it worked.
.....huge huge huuuuge LOL at Hong Kong being #1
haha, really? #1 least affordable city in the world = a top 10 economic freedom? local stringest border restrictions, currency restrictions, etc
freedom of speech oversight from the mainland
HK has a lot of freedom relative to, say, the mainland, but #1 globally? :O
Yo, my man, what it is brother?
You ever start your own business? The government forces you through so much red tape you're so far in hole before you even start. That's not freedom. The government 'allows' you to keep a portion of your own money and if you don't pay what the government wants you to pay - you go to prison. That's not freedom. A 'free market' doesn't have a group of academic narcissists control the value and supply of its currency while bailing out special interest groups and letting others fail miserably.
And one more thing - that lifestyle you think you have is about to come to a screeching halt.
The US, where freedom from liberty still exists.
-Cynicles
The chart is missing the "sheeple" metric. My fellow Canuks are incredibly meek sheeple. They believe and trust every government they vote into power.
I wonder how many of those other countries have roving FBI death squads to silence reporters and whistleblowers who know too much?
Phil Marshall’s 9/11 lead made him a marked man… | Real Politik
Canada will never maintain their ranking with another four years of Harper. This guy was cloned by the US State Department.
I can't believe NZ ranked above Canada. These islands have been Agenda 21'd to death. Impossible to buy a house with income from labour. The state is at least a third of the economy and regulates the economy to death. Self defence is against the law. The police won't investigate property crimes but set up checkpoints to ticket families carrying children in cars without child safety seats.
The GCSB (our NSA) spys on everyone all of the time. PC censorship is intense, say the wrong thing and your career is over. Years ago a truther journalist (Clare Swinney) was forcibly incarcerated in a locked mental ward and drugged in retaliation for complaining about TVNZ parroting the obviously false official conspiracy theory about 9/11. We can't even find out what is going on with the TPP but our owners will let us vote - on a new flag design. Finally, our PM is from an elite ethnic group and used to be a currency trader at Merrill Lynch. But, he did officially deny being a reptillian alien, very reassuring.
So sad and true. And one not dare suggest that the Auckland housing bubble is caused by Chinese hot money, no no, can't say that. It's all a supply issue don't you know. FFS.
The zio disease is everywhere.
I have pics of Ted Nugget eating Janet Yellins thang, how much you willin to pay?
I totaly agree. Good think elections are coming and he doesn't look like he will make it.
Fraiser Inst. was one of the references. An arithmetically challenged organization at best ( have seen them present stats that directly contradicted their conclusions in their own articles ). Fair odds they would boost Canada's relative ranking because of the pending election, points for their guy in office. Last election SH was "I'm the only one who can maintain trade with USA" neatly forgetting back 15 years ago when he was leading the opposition and demanded Canada apologize for letting the 9-11 terrorists in through Canada ( cross border trade has never been simple since that bogus shot ). CPC is all about immediate advantage and depends on everyone having a short memory. They keep getting elected so I guess they may be right.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/02/27/1647321/canadian-supreme-court-...20th and falling like a rock...
That's why they may be promoting all this BS with transgender "freedoms" etc. As they take away property rights and civil liberties they are loosening up on social mores to make people feel as though we are gaining freedoms. How free is a guy with a puss going to be when he has no property, no ability to defend itself and has a drone pointing a laser in it's face and how it going to buy lipstick and purses when it's currency has no value?
With any luck, conservatives finally wake up and realize that instead of fighting for the government to protect marriage, they should be getting the government out of our lives in every way possible. I've heard that some pro-marriage groups in Alabama are figuring this out, and my colleague in Georgia's Libertarian Party is trying to spread the same message.
IMO the issue would not even be present if it weren't for Washington constantly trying to dream up new ways to meddle in daily life. I guess the promise of power to feel comfortable by outlawing anything that offends you is too tempting to too many on all sides.
Plus another one.
You're absolutely correct, I don't care one wit what THE STATE defines as "a marriage", it can "sanctify" whatever it wishes...the marriage of dog & cats...crabs & crocodiles...I don't care, forced sanction by a religion (any religion) is a completely different matter.
At the end of the day, statists and progs are trying to leverage THE STATES power of taxation to force compliance in the religious realm, it's a frontal assault on ALL religion except THE STATES religion.
Looks like someone took a break from his tonsil glazing session to get off his knees to downvote you....
Not just Washington, though. Many of the worst meddlers are your own very LOCAL governments, as in town, city, and county. These are the people who regulate the acceptable height of your grass, the color you may paint your house, and the number of inches of insulation you must purchase for your attic. Sometimes the purpose of having Washington pass a law is so that 40,000 different counties and cities can all be forced onto the same rulebook rather than a different picyune travesty every mile down the Interstate. Sometimes.
Correctly, the Federal Government has no legal basis for legislating the specifics of marriage. According to the Constitution, that right should be reserved to the State. However it would be better reserved to the People, to make what arrangements they deem proper for their own personal lives.
I flew across country to New York last week. I fly about 3 times a year. The absolute douche baggery of the TSA is jaw dropping. They don't use the word please, they are probably discouraged from using it. No room for general civility in the police state. The TSA is lowest common denominator imbecile with a blue uniform. It was Bushes jobs program.
And it continues to be Obama's jobs program--mostly for black Americans.
"With any luck, conservatives finally wake up and realize that instead of fighting for the government to protect marriage, they should be getting the government out of our lives in every way possible."
You seem to be under the mistaken impression that ALL conservatives think alike and are fighting for the government to protect marriage. There are many types of conservatives (economic, social, Constitutional, religious, etc.).
Exactly.
To answer your last question....maybe you don't want to know????
If you do want to know, maybe sit in on some upcoming common core grammar school classes on future
occupations and entenpreneruship...
The trans-agenda is transhumanism.
Or at the very least a confused, scrabbling, squabbling pit of drones programmed to react and not think over which the elites will lord and refine.
The human psyche: the ultimate divide and conquer
Protocol 8 Abolish all rights and freedoms, except the right of force by us
Protocol 13 Use our media to create entertaining distractions
Protocol 14 Corrupt minds with filth and perversion
Hope and Change baby! Took Hussein Ogabe 6 years. Can't wait to see how CHildren of Men the future will look when that f****t halfrican leaves orifice.
Countries from this list with laws against holocaust denial: http://i.imgur.com/q3vMAzc.png
Let's start with what really matters.
Countries from this list with laws against a basic human right...
http://www.gunsandammo.com/network-topics/culture-politics-network/best-...
...to include licensing or registration of...a basic human right.
Pardon me while I faint dead away from shock at this "study"...for multiple reasons...lol.
And where are our overlords, israel, ranked? 999?
My Freedom of Speech was summarily censored on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website and I was barred from posting by the private contractor that was hired by the CBC to control commenting on the CBC website. And that's when I joined ZeroHedge.com.
Frankly, the United States of America, and most Americans, are much better at protecting FREE SPEECH rights than Canadians are. Furthermore, I actually admire Americans for the way they safeguard and protect my FREE SPEECH rights above my own damn cocksucking country. When it comes to FREEDOM of SPEECH I would rather be in the USA.
Progressives, SJW's, the LGBTQ's, and the myriad groups like #blacklivesmatter are working feverishly around the clock to curtail our freedom of speech. Speech codes, hate speech, censorship, it's already here. You are not free to speek your mind in the workplace, at university, in politics, etc. There is a chilling effect across the fruited plains.
http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-quebecs-hate-spe...
Freedom is a concept that is underapreciated, misunderstood and overused as a term.
You have no freedom as your tax rates go to 100%, and they will over time.
You have no freedom when everything you do requires a license, permit, certificate, inspection, filing, approval or stamp of a government that is not connected to the consequences. I assert nothing in America can be done without permit, except perhaps voting Democrat.
You have no freedom when all your actions must pass through a filter of regulation. When all speech, contracts, terms, conditions, methods and interactions are set by force of government, including your wages, these is no real freedom.
When freedom is gone, then the motivation for human interaction, called trade, innovation, market forces, risk taking, entrepreneurship and similar things grinds to a halt. None of it pays off and the weight of government is too heavy to move forward. All innovation moves toward either gaming the government systems or off books to black markets. Black marketers are the good guys and the only place there is some freedom or tortured market forces.
When freedom is gone a role reversal results. It goes from people supporting government to government supporting people. That is why poverty becomes rampant. It is why you see little difference in free government housing in Communist countries and slave quarters in Rome or the old South. The police go from being good guys who protect the people to bad guys who protect the State. They become enforcers, not protectors. They become enemy, not friend. You think anyone is glad to see N. Korean police? The Army goes from protecting against external threats to watching for internal threats. Where do you think Assad's army is being used more, Israel or Syria? Same with any Communist country.
It is no accident that the poorest countries are the least free and the freeest countries have the least poor. It is like removing the rain from the rain forest and we will see the result.
But I can still exercise my freedom of speech and make fun of people, right?
You will at least be monitored and it depends on who you make fun of.
The land of opportunity has become the land of entitlement and the "land of the free" has become the land of the freebie.
Can't be as high as 20th, we've been slipping into the third world under Obama. Those rankings look rigged like the employment data.
A shining beacon on a hill, champion of Western syphillisation.
Hong Kong is a country?
The UK has a camera density of 10000 to 1
Sweden has no cash,,, yea, lots of freedom there!
Australia just arrested a police officer for leaking a police brutal beating of a citizen in cuffs.
Freedumb index? lol.
Edit: Now if they're measuring relative tyranny to each other the chart might work out,,, sort of like how they rate currencies. All fiat currencies are shit BUT relative to each other they appear okay.
I caught that as well. The U.K. is in bad shape. Seems to be honestly like literally an asylum?
Strange ass country for sure. The corruption levels in the U.K. compare fairly well to the rest of the worlds dying nations though, which ought to be a point of pride for other national/federal 'governments' who have clearly been making almost comically desperate efforts to show similiar diligence in developing new 'realities' for their respective 'citizens' to enjoy while being systematically raped by the flayling moronism of central planning itself.
FORWARD!!!
So, US ranks lower than China.
(Hong Kong is a part of China).
I wonder what the rankings would be individually
for the 50 states (and Puerto Rico and D.C.)
... Don't even ask about the "Constitution-free" zones along the borders and airports.
Great Lakes , NE and West coast plus DC and PR are communist welfare states.
China came in on the list at 132.
Russia at 111
and of course Iran was last at 152.... lol.
Kosovo and Ukraine
supposedly more free than Russia
... lol
I wonder out of all the countries on the list that are "more free" than us, can you carry a concealed firer arm. I think being able to carry legally takes our ranking to the top trouncing all the other countries. CC is the ultimate freedom.
Obama is free to suck dick and that is what matters to the Kardasians .
Zion been very, very good to us.
Zion is a scheme, not an ethnicity.
"Hong Kong’s high ranking may seem surprising, but the index does not attempt to measure democracy, and this year’s report doesn’t take into account recent pro-democracy protests in the country and the subsequent government crackdown."
Cough...hack...wut?...lol.
Well, of course not, how on God's green earth can consummate statist-think-tank types (who view the worlds regions through the prism of national governance, like a Krugman or Thomas Friedman) and accept that premise be fair arbiters of ANYONES liberty?
Ya know what, when the shooting starts these people will be the first to die.
That is historically accurate by the way ;-)
democracy is rulership by the mob.
and the "crowd" is well-known to be even more stupid than its most stupid member.
Thomas Jefferson never imagined that this country would allow poor people and uneducated people to vote.
Oh, do go back and study some more. Jefferson specifically advocated for public higher education -- for which reason he FOUNDED UVA -- under the reasoning that poor people SHOULD be allowed to vote, but desperately needed to be educated before they could do so intelligently. Andrew Jackson decided to hell with the education part; get them the vote first and then they could vote themselves what they needed . . . . and here we are 200 years on.
Problem with that is the more "educated" a person is these days the more likely they are a complete tool. Most education is statist education. I saw a bumper sticker once and it read:
"Government school.. the reason why you and your kids are stupid".
"War on information"???
LMFAO.
It's the WAR ON TRUTH.
Call it what it actually is.
TRUTH is the ultimate and inevitable opponent of the 'state'.
Hense the two criminal gangs + their corporate/statist 'media' strive to replicate the North Korean version of demockracy..writ large.
They say 'obama plays chess, not checkers?
Kinda..LOL.
El bozo is just a pawn.
Ya right. Three conservative think tanks decide Canada is #6 on the freedumb index. Never mind that there is a federal election in Canada going on right now and the governing Conservatives have lost libertarians due to an Orwellian new bill called C51 that makes agenda 21 look good. I guess some of the dumber folks might fall for it...
https://bccla.org/2015/03/8-things-you-need-to-know-about-bill-c-51/
Yeah, Snowden uncovers the dirt on Canada, Britain, France (fucking you name it...lol) accepting NSA spying info to use on "it's own citizens" with a wink & a nod and somehow Hong Kong, Canada, Britain etal are the guardians of the torch.
Puleeeze.
Remora.
Yup. But the current government who just brought in C-51 is going to get thrown out on their ass in October. Harper is toast. Canadians are definitely stirred up. Look at what Albertans did to their government of 45 years. The gov't of Alberta got complacent, got cocky, started thinking they were somehow 'entitled'. Albertans showed the rest of Canada how it's done by kicking their provincial government so f'king hard they landed in the mid Pacific. AFTER BEING IN POWER AND DOING A PRETTY GOOD JOB FOR THE FIRST 43 OF THOSE YEARS. Today that party is in a complete shambles.
Harper deserves the same.
WTF? Alberta elected the NDP, one the worst parties to ever grace Canadian politics. They are a disaster on many issues (socialist, anti business) and will most likely embrace that shitty bill as well.
In other words, they aren't any different than most brain dead Canadian political parties.
So what party should we have voted in then? Any suggestions? What would you have done? Who would you have voted for? Or would you have given the same arrogant party we had in power for 45 years another 4 years and just pretend we were happy? I'll await your answer with amusement.
The usual suspects and their patrons are not stupid. They have been apprised of the writing on the wall. They bailed. Would you want to be holding the bag when the deal goes down? The "NDP", or whoever, are the guy that always gets picked last, and never once saw a train coming.
Obviously the rankers are far more concerned with the ability of corporations to make profits than of individuals to influence or have power over their governments. Unless those individuals are gazillionaires, of course. Not to mention the freedom to breath air that doesn't choke you (Hong Kong? REALLY?) or drink water that isn't contaminated with coal tar (Australia?).
The fact that the U.S. can't place in the top ten even with those considerations is pathetic.
Don't worry, Canada is trying hard to catch down to USA. There was a sudden change in our dear leader's attitude once he laid his hands on the wailing wall.
Harper has been corrupted by the scheme of zion.
Right you are. Life in Canada used to be so decent at one time. Almost total freedom. I'm not sure where the author gets off saying "US falls behind Canada". No disrespect to the American readers, but I assure you the US was 'never' in front of Canada when it comes to personal freedoms. But as Rock on Roger says, our current Harper government has sold out to the neocon agenda. He is now trying to make life as shitty in Canada as it is in the USA. So we're going to fucking turf them in October. Harper is toast.
Just like we did to his buddy, Jim Prentice, an acolyte of Rothschild.
http://rabble.ca/news/2014/05/rockefeller-files-jim-prentice-and-oil-ind...
I never even knew of that association. But that would explain where Prentice's arrogance came from. We just couldn't stand the asshole for any longer. I think a high percentage of Albertans have a radar for arrogance... probably because we're sick and tired of it, going all the way back to the biggest asshole of all time, Pierre E. Trudeau.
Radar for arrogance - because we are the sons of homesteaders, men who had the balls to haul their families to a brave new world and start with nothing. We have no time for the fuckers that try to steal our wealth.
Stack On
Yes but we are way out in front in ignorance, stupidity and arrogance. We also have a huge lead in narcissistic, self serving, shit bag politicians too.
I dunno, I'd keep an eye on the self important Canadian monarchists if I were you.
They're really breathing down our necks ;-)
Charles is going to rule with an iron fist, I tell you.
I don't care about democracy. Fuck voting.
"You can’t really have freedom without safety and security."
The DHS approves this message.
The UK and its former colonies get 6 of the top 10 places.
Of course, there's always one problem child who lags behind.
The list is obviously political, the countries with the biggest spy agencies are in the top 20, that's absurd.
And counties like Lithunaia and Estonia up so high when they both still have conscription, unless conscription is not considered as a reduction of freedom nowadays!
Don't worry , in a few years China will surpass the U.S. Wether with H. Klingon or Conald Thump .
Hah! We beat Spain by almost .15 points! We ROCK! /sarc/
Hong Kong, personal freedom? The chinese government watching over your back, recording how many times a week you take a dump, you gotta be frickin kidding me.
Iran's placement at the bottom is fairly absurd. While they're certainly not near the top, Iran is not nearly the cartoonish depiction the American media has foisted on its public.
Saudi Arabia is placed 9 spots above it.
That is simply crazy.
"You can’t really have freedom without safety and security"
Ironically, our freedom here in Canada has been taken away in the name of 'safety and security'. I know there's alot of countries that have less freedom than us, but here nobody will fight against having it taken away. And with 100% certainty, any freedom anywhere is being taken away, and it's taken away with great applause from the sheeple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKjuQrHp3A0
Considering which countries rank from 3 to 14 on this "freedom" index, one realizes what a parlous state freedom is actually in.