Is America #1??

Economic freedom is the source of wealth

America is viewed throughout the world as the #1 country. It dominates culturally, militarily, and economically. Why? Is it luck? Does America's location and resources make it the best place in the world to create wealth? In "Is America #One?", John Stossel makes the case that of all the factors that affect the success of a nation, nothing matters as much as economic liberty. He travels around the globe and compares the quality of life in the U.S. with two examples that have wide disparities in terms of wealth and freedom; India and Hong Kong.

India suffers pervasive poverty levels and very high unemployment. There are wealthy people in India, but they are the minority. Most people in India do not have the opportunity to earn even enough to feed and support themselves or their family. Begging is common in the streets throughout the country. Why? Many people state that it is because India is extremely populated. But when you look at Hong Kong, a city that has 20 times more people per square mile as compared to India and virtually no natural resources, you find a booming economy. People in Hong Kong have nearly the same income per capita as America, and it's wealthier than resource rich countries such as Canada and Australia. In the 1950's, Hong Kong was a small, poverty ridden city much like most cities in India today. Since then the characteristic that allow Hong Kong to succeed while India failed is Freedom.

America and Hong Kong have high degrees of economic freedom which has enabled economic development through the promotion of entrepreneurship in the countries. Laissez-faire polices allow productive businesses to form far easier in Hong Kong than in restrictive countries like India. To open a business, it takes only a day in Hong Kong for the paperwork to be processed, a few weeks in the U.S., but in India it can take up to a few years to meet the restrictions imposed by decades of rule by its socialist government.

Hong Kong and America's relatively free markets that provide producers an easier time of entering and competing in the market creates more jobs for everyone while countries like India with strong restrictions enforced by the government stifle sustainable poverty elimination by preventing economic growth.

Freedom Channel

Is America Number One? Sample

Good post. Too bad it degraded into such a cultural pissing contest. I noticed the title is "Is America #1", not "America is #1". The invitation for discussion must have slipped by some of the other readers.

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John Stossel makes the case that of all the factors that affect the success of a nation, nothing matters as much as economic liberty.
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I would shorten that to "nothing matters as much as liberty". Liberty in and of itself is wealth, so stating that nations with greater liberty have greater wealth is essentially a truism.

On Hong Kong, one factor to note is that Hong Kong has it's own local currency. I guess this falls in the realm of economic liberty - the freedom to define your own medium of exchange. On the practical side, I've read that local currency can serve the same functions as tariffs (with less government).

Defining success in terms of "domination", especially militarily, is a little troubling. I can see myself as successful without dominating anyone.

As for the question "Is America #1", there are a couple of things the nation can definitely claim superiority in:

1) highest military spending
2) highest arms exports (16 yrs in a row!)

I fear we are entering the arena of the unwell. American success at liberty is at odds with American success at building tools for suppressing liberty. The Forefathers, businessmen down to the bone, saw the dangers inherent in a standing army. And now America has an army standing just about everywhere around the world!

Satan/ Cheney in 08