The US should not be #13 in any economic freedom index

(My new American Thinker post)

Sorry but this is a lousy report by Terry Miller:

"World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. But after seven straight years of decline, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries."

Every American should be angry and embarrassed by this report.

Canada and Chile are ahead of us.  They live in our neighborhood. Chile, in particular, is the model for the 3rd world. Canada has done a great job attracting investment and has developed energy resources.

This is more than a just a scorecard or spreadsheet.  As  Mr Miller indicates, the countries rising on this list get more prosperous whereas the countries dropping get stagnant:

"It's not hard to see why the U.S. is losing ground. Even marginal tax rates exceeding 43% cannot finance runaway government spending, which has caused the national debt to skyrocket. The Obama administration continues to shackle entire sectors of the economy with regulation, including health care, finance and energy. The intervention impedes both personal freedom and national prosperity.

But as the U.S. economy languishes, many countries are leaping ahead, thanks to policies that enhance economic freedom-the same ones that made the U.S. economy the most powerful in the world. Governments in 114 countries have taken steps in the past year to increase the economic freedom of their citizens. Forty-three countries, from every part of the world, have now reached their highest economic freedom ranking in the index's history.

It's not fair to blame it all on President Obama.  However, his policies have made things worse, from Obama Care to an anti-business attitude that crushes innovation and creativity.

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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Question for ObamaCare: Where's the money?

(My new American Thinker post)

More numbers from Obama Care but we still don't know what the health of the program is.

According to POLITICO:

"The administration's monthly enrollment update showed 2.2 million people had picked health plans in the federal or state health exchanges from Oct. 1 through Dec. 28. It's not yet clear how many have paid their first monthly premium, a requirement before coverage can begin. An additional 3.9 million people have been deemed eligible for Medicaid. 

More than half of those who have signed up are between 45 and 64, an age range that tends to be sicker and costlier to cover, according to the enrollment figures released Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services."

So let me get this straight:

1. No young people, or the ones who will fund the ACA;

2. Too many older and sick people, or the ones who will very likely use the service; and,

3. We do not have official reports on the premiums collected.  Is the Obama administration afraid of releasing premium info because so few have paid?

It looks to me that The Affordable Health Care Act is in very bad health. The death spiral is literally here. 

P. S. You can hear my chat with Frank Burke, contributor to American Thinker about Obama Care & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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