During its twenty-year history, the Heritage Foundation’s annual Index of Economic Freedom has put the US in the top ten. Last year, the US slipped to ninth place.
Heritage has just released its 2014 Index, and for the first time, the US has dropped out of the top ten. It is now number twelve, behind Denmark and Estonia.
It could be worse, of course. We’re still not anywhere near Zimbabwe, Cuba, and North Korea, which rank 176, 177, and 178 respectively. What’s disturbing is not merely where we are in the rankings, but the fact that this is a downward trend line for the US.
“Economic freedom” is not one of the topics that animates most Christians, but it should be. In economically free countries, there tends to be less poverty, more wealth creation, and more general flourishing than in countries with little economic freedom. To put it simply: if we care about the poor, if we care about human beings in general, we need to care about economic freedom.
Terry Miller, who directs the Index project at the Heritage Foundation, has the story in The Wall Street Journal.
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Photo courtesy of Ed Coyle Photography.
