The Wall Street Journal printed an interesting piece Tuesday titled “Freedom is Still the Winning Formula,” which summed up the findings of this year’s index of economic freedom. It turns out that there’s an amazing correlation between economic freedom and national income, as the freest enjoy per capita income over 10 times higher than those countries that are viewed as repressed.
Hong Kong took the top spot for the 15th year in a row, and its successes in growing an economy ”” though it isn’t blessed with natural resources ”” should serve as an example for those of us who would like to grow jobs and economic opportunity in our state.
This is particularly the case given the trying economic times, as they could well be the tipping point in facilitating change that I believe has been long overdue in South Carolina. All of this is a long preamble to saying that the five goals I laid out in the State of the State Wednesday night are ultimately about making our economy more competitive ”” and recognizing that if there was ever a year to make change, this is the year. Rather than waiting on a bailout from Washington to stimulate our economy, we propose following the Hong Kong example of both low and flat taxes.
It’s the possibility of replicating Mark Sanford that has me thinking human cloning might be a good idea.
I heard dat, Jeffersonian. He is the bane of many Republicans.
A couple good ideas. But who is going to play the role of the British? Will he imitate Hong Kong’s property tax? It’s not a bad idea. Would be fascinating to see how it works over here.
It will be interesting to see if school vouchers make up for the lack of incentive for good teachers.
But in the end, government spending can help bring prosperity. Cutting taxes works in the short term. In the long term, it will make the state poorer.
JW #3, government spending can help bring prosperity? I continue to be stunned by people who thought Bush’s federal deficit was terrible, but that the new “stimulus” bill will fix everything. It seems to be the intention, not the fact, which determines the good or evil of the spending plan in this view.
A more realistic view is that Bush should have vetoed some spending bills, Republicans should never have sent him the spending bills in the first place, and Democrats shouldn’t pass this one.
I fully agree with Katherine’s last sentence. So true. Once in power, the Republicans took on the worst habits of the borrow and spend Democratic Party. That’s why they lost the last election, not because of ideological differences, but because they ABANDONED their ideological difference. If you are going to have someone in the Congress who ACTS like a Democrat, why not have a true Democrat?
That said it seems like the popular media view of reporting is:
Republican spending and tax cuts = BAD for America
Democratic spending and tax cuts = Salvation for America
The best way for the Government to help the American recovery process is to get out of the way and let American determination take over. Obama seems to be following Jimmy Carter’s policy direction and that led to high double digit inflation and unemployment.
RE: “In the long term, it will make the state poorer.”
It certainly will — the State will be poorer. Individuals and businesses however, will be far far richer.