Land of the free? Not so much when it comes to economic policy. The most recent issue of the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom provides hard evidence of how the Biden Administration has moved America towards a more socialistic economy.
The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom is a widely recognized measure of where national economies fall on a scale between free market capitalism and authoritarian socialism. In Biden’s first year, economic freedom in the United States hit an all-time low.
Heritage Foundation has compiled the index since 1995. Heritage considers twelve different aspects of national economies in coming up with an overall index. Countries are ranked from most free (#1 Singapore) to least free (#177 North Korea).
In the 2022 issue of the index, the United States freedom score and ranking are at an all-time low. The United States is now ranked as the 25th freest economy in the world. According to Heritage, the U.S. economy is now less market-oriented than that of Germany, Canada or the United Kingdom as well as many smaller advanced and developing countries.
In 2012, America was ranked as the 10th freest economy in the world.
America’s ranking has fallen dramatically over the last decade due to the growth of government spending, increased business and labor regulation, and the growth of trade protectionism. The authors write:
Driven lower by a sharp decrease in its fiscal health score, the U.S. has recorded a 3.0-point overall loss of economic freedom since 2017 and has fallen from the upper half to the lower half of the “Mostly Free” category. Business freedom and rule of law are strong, but the economy is being crushed by reckless government overspending.
America’s movement away from free market capitalism means less economic opportunities for all Americans. Kevin Roberts, the CEO of the Heritage Foundation, lays out a disturbing picture of what the decline of economic freedom means for the future of the United States:
Especially for Americans like me who have benefitted from the legacy of a society justly called the “land of the free,” this year’s Index of Economic Freedom paints a disturbing picture. The startling decline of America’s economic freedom is serious cause for alarm. Policymakers in Washington, DC, and around the globe must understand that simply spending their way back to prosperity always has failed and will continue to fail.
GOUSA believes that free market capitalism, not socialism, is the path to greater opportunity and prosperity. Our unique rating system identifies those politicians that believe in and are advancing free market economic policies and those who are pushing socialism.
To learn more about our economic opportunity rating system and see the economic opportunity ratings for individual politicians, visit our OppScore rating pages here, here and here.