Detroit slum

From Mark Steyn’s latest column, “Motown’s Biggest Hit!”

… [U]nlike European cities, no bombs fell on Detroit. They did this to themselves. And the real rubble is not the ruined buildings, but the ruined people. This is an American city at the dawn of the 21st century, and one in two of its citizens are illiterate. That’s about the same rate as the Ivory Coast, or the Central African Republic …

Hiroshima, Japan (Source: EmergingCorruption.com)

To illustrate the point, consider today’s breathtakingly modern Hiroshima, which was devastated 65 years ago by an atomic bomb.  In contrast, no bomb has ever landed anywhere near the Motor City. But by looking at these images, one would think that Japan was actually the winner of World War II.

We did this to ourselves: Decades of progressive government and naughty citizens managed to destroy what Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union could not.

Also states that our debt began sharply increasing in 2006. Wasn’t that when our beloved Democrats took over both houses of Congress?

At some point we must begin to ask ourselves – what is treason? The federal government has done more damage to this country than if the Soviet Union had invaded during the Cold War. Now if we captured members of the Red Army, there would be military tribunals and they would be shot. I am NOT advocating such treatment for our elected officials, however, we should realize the gravity of the situation they have placed us in with their lust for power.

Is the destruction of our republic somehow more palatable if it is perpetrated by domestic enemies rather than foreign ones?

And an EU bailout of Greece would violate their own charter, in case you didn’t know.

The Pentagon doesn’t want an alternate engine for the F-35 fighter; they’ve tried to terminate the program since fiscal 2007. Congress has continued to fund the program over Pentagon and administration objections. Obama threatened a veto in 2009, but Congress still added more funds for an alternative engine. The fiscal 2010 Defense spending bill included $465 million for an alternative F-35 engine. The FY2010 defense appropriations bill (signed by Obama on Dec. 19, 2009) included $430 million to continue alternate engine development and appropriated $35 million for alternate engine procurement.

Fox News has a handy calculator – just enter your gross annual income. Other spendy bills you can do this with can be found on the right sidebar.

The 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, jointly published by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, tracks the march of economic freedom worldwide.

Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, and Canada all earned the distinction “Free” and placed higher than the United States, who rated “Mostly Free.” The U.S. finished in eighth place, dropping significantly from last year’s fifth place. In fact, only three of the scores for the top 100 countries fell more than ours – The Bahamas, Barbados, and Mongolia.

Why is the U.S. no longer ‘Free?’
“The U.S. government’s policy responses to the crisis and economic slowdown have been far-reaching and implemented at the cost of curtailing economic freedom,” the Heritage Foundation stated in a press release.

In contrast, the editors wrote, “Canada’s high level of economic freedom, coupled with its sound and prudent banking sector, has enabled its economy to emerge from the global downturn relatively unscathed.”

Indeed, the Canadian dollar, which for years has lagged behind its American counterpart, is on pace to become more valuable than the U.S. dollar.

The report  uses ten categories to determine each country’s score: business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government size, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights, freedom from corruption and labor freedom. The U.S. declined sharply from 2009 scores in most categories.

With the Democratic leadership seeking to socialize the healthcare industry, which is estimated to be approximately 17 percent of our economy, a government takeover would considerably decrease our freedom rating.

As economist Adam Smith wrote more than 200 years ago, “When institutions protect the liberty of individuals, greater prosperity results for all.” Perhaps the media should question Democrats—President Barack Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), and Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) as to why their policies are making the U.S. less free.

[Originally published at The U.S. Report]

Maybe if we had a free media, they could ask the president why we aren’t taking steps to move our nation towards #1. But that’s definitely not going to happen as they are far more concerned with Obama’s “legacy” than they are with freedom.

Hong Kong and Singapore have consistently placed #1 and #2 respectively since the index began in 1995. At that time, the U.S. was the world’s fourth-most free economy – our all-time highest ranking. Today we are a dismal eighth, one spot below Canada.

How is it that we are less free than Canada? Perhaps we should send them our Statue of Liberty as apparently Canada is a better place to for the tired, the poor, and huddled masses to “breathe free.” By the way, the Canadian dollar is about to become more valuable than the American dollar.

How far the mighty have fallen.

While I support cutting taxes, I do not support income redistribution through the tax code, which is exactly what is going on here. The Tax Foundation reports that today, families with an income threshold of over $50,000 can have either a zero – or a negative – tax liability.

Think about it: the fewer people that pay taxes, the more likely the American public will be to support more government redistribution of income. Rather than work for their money, they can entrust government to take it from “the rich.”