Economic Freedom of the World Report 2012. Shame on you USA!

Has this been posted already? Idk, and if it has, its worth another look anyway.
The report is done by the Fraser Institute. Plenty of PhD's, and there doesnt seem to be any political bias.
I cant embed, but the source document with all reference material can be found at www.Freetheworld.com

The study took five criteria and sub groups of those criteria to form ratings on a scale of one to ten. The higher the number, the more freedoms in that criteria. Basic, but effective the way it was applied.

The criteria are:

Size of government
Legal system and Property rights
Sound Money
Freedom to trade Internationally
Regulation

Before I get into places and such, I think its worth pointing out that on page 12 of the report theres a detailed description of how Democracy affects economic freedom. Very very eye opening. I would write it all out here if I werent on a smart phone. Go read it, you wont be sorry.

Also noteworthy...from just 2005-2010, the USofA fell a hardy 16 spots on the list....of FREEDOMS.

Okay, so overall, the United States placed 18th out of 144 countries.

Top two are Hong Kong and Singapore. What are some of the countries that beat us out?

Bahrain
Chile
United Arab Emirates
Estonia
Taiwan
Qatar

We in the "homeland" have our Democracy shoved down our throats. We are led to believe our whole lives that no matter what, the USA is right and everyone else is wrong. Period. Looks like a most of the top 20 are communist countries to me..some Socialist, and only 3 Democracies. Wow.

Lets take those criteria one by one and see how the USA stacks up to the world.

When it comes to Size of Government, the USA places 73rd. Seventy frickin third!? Out of 144 countries, we rate horribly bad. Who beat us out...or has smaller government rather?

UAE, Tailand, SYRIA, RUSSIA,ROMANIA, TURKEY,Ukraine, Uganda, and about 68 other countries. 60 of them not Democracies.

Again, I point out Arab nations again beating us. I only say that because Im American. Im supposed to hate all Arab nations because they arent free...or thats the mantra anyway.
Lets keep going and see if the USA can redeem herself here.

Property Rights. Pfft...easy you say! We can "own" land here, we MUST be first right? Way wrong. 28th. Think thats staggering? Check out who has more property rights in the world:

UAE
Singapore
Hong Kong
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Rwanda...and 22 others.

There are those pesky Arabs again! Not only beating the USA, but in some instances, crushing the USA.

Moving on to Sound Money...

The USA has the world reserve currency...seems like a no brainer, until you see the countries placed above the USA (7th)

Such powerhouses as the Slovak Republic, Portugal, Japan, Belgium.

If the USA didnt hold the distinction of having a reserve currency, we would place far far far lower.

This oughtta fire you up. Love NAFTA? Cant get enough of GHATT?

You wont after this. How does the USA rank when it comes to Freedom of International Trade? Hows 57th sound to ya? That show two things to me. First, the USA no longer produces anything the world buys...or alot less than it used to anyway. Secondly, it shows how these treaties are bringing this country to its knees.

Which countries have better International Trade? Forgoing China for obvious reasons, we're left with:

I wont even list them. No need. If we are 57th, any country you can think of is above us on the list. Some Arab countries that again bested the USA...

UAE
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
JORDAN!?

Again, I bring those Arab countries to the forefront because its a predominent theme and is important to the overall thread.

Now we arrive at the category titled Regulation.

Common sense tells me that less is more here when freedoms are concerned. USA places 31st. Im shaking my head this is all so unbelievable. Who beats us yet again?

UAE
SYRIA
Saudi Arabia, and 27 others.

So there it is. The beacon of freedom around the world and we cry foul at countries that have more freedom than we. We didnt rank in the top 20 in any category besides sound money. How utterly disappointing.

I understand personal freedoms and economic ones are somewhat different. However, with the highest jailed population on the planet, I fear what our rank would actually be.

Its no wonder people around the world hate us. We scream freedoms, drop some bombs, and make things worse overall.

If the USA would act like the Republic it IS instead of a Democracy, we would place far higher.

These are the most recent stats from a reputable source I could find. Think of this elephant in the room before I go:

In 2009, PAGES of new regulations jumped 70%!!

Since 2010, the USA has added...get this....OVER 200,000 NEW PAGES of regulations. I shudder to think where the beacon of freedom will be on the list. Especially when the Congress announces Austerity measures next year. They like to call it a "Fiscal Cliff", but we know better.

Source for the new regulations came from www.freerepublic.com