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[Quote No.32489] Need Area: Friends > General
"[The United States in 2009 is no longer the freest country in the world: This has significant implications for the GDP of the USA and the living standards of all Americans and therefore political ideology and economic policy and practice. Economic freedom around the world remains on the rise but it has declined notably in the U.S. since the year 2000, according to the 'Economic Freedom of the World: 2009 Annual Report', released by the Cato Institute in conjunction with the Fraser Institute of Canada. In 2000 the U.S. was ranked the 2nd-freest economy, but it has fallen to 6th place this year. 'The rule of law, government spending, and regulation are the areas where the United States saw the most troubling declines in its ratings this decade,' comments Cato scholar Ian Vasquez. Writing from Chile, which was ranked the 5th-freest country in the study, senior fellow Jose Pinera explains why his home country now has more economic freedom than the United States:] In 1975, of 72 countries, Chile was No 71. How did this [going from the 71st to the 5th freest country] happen? The explanation lies in what I call the 'Chilean Revolution,' because it was as important and transformative to my country as the celebrated American Revolution that gave birth to the United States. The exceptional political circumstances of this period have obscured the fact that from 1975 to 1989 a true revolution took place in Chile, involving a radical, comprehensive, and sustained move toward economic and political freedom... This revolution not only doubled Chile’s historic rate of economic growth (to an average of 7% a year between 1984 and 1998), drastically reduced poverty (from 45% to 15%), and introduced several radical libertarian reforms that set the country on a path toward rapid development; but it also brought democracy, restored limited government, and established the rule of law. [These results again prove the benefits of libertarian social and economic policies to a country's economy and the living standards of its citizens if still more proof were needed.]" - Jose Pinera
Senior fellow of the American political and economic policy research and publication think-tank, the Cato Institute.
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