Common Dreams reports:
According to the 2014 Index(pdf) released [by the Legatum Institute in London] earlier this month, in the measure of personal freedom, the United States has fallen from 9th place in 2010 to 21st worldwide--behind such countries as Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Uruguay, and Costa Rica.
The scores are based on 2013 polling data provided by Gallup, which questioned citizens' satisfaction with the nation's handling of civil liberties, freedom of choice, tolerance of ethnic minorities, and tolerance of immigrants.
According to the Legatum researchers, "evidence suggests that the greater the level of freedom in society the greater the satisfaction with life."
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American Ranking Plummets in Global Index of Personal Freedoms
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(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 28 2014, @07:02PM
But we don't need no stinking poll to know that. Shit went down since 9/11 and things continue to get worse with Obama.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by kaszz on Friday November 28 2014, @07:51PM
Looking at the numbers and policy it seems like the downfall of US prosperity started with Reagan. It might not have propagated during this time but the changes seems to have a starting point right there.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Friday November 28 2014, @08:49PM
We are winning the War on Personal Freedom! The all-power state owns you, citizen-slave, and you can only do what we allow.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday November 28 2014, @10:13PM
And the corporations own the state :p
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Whoever on Friday November 28 2014, @07:07PM
Why is the USA ranked #1 in health? The US spends more per person, but that spending is very unevenly distributed. The USA doesn't have the longest average life expectancy.
(Score: 1) by curunir_wolf on Saturday November 29 2014, @01:16AM
Why is the USA ranked #1 in health? The US spends more per person, but that spending is very unevenly distributed. The USA doesn't have the longest average life expectancy.
Because of Big Ag and Big Pharma. The Monsanto and corporate farms produce low nutrient, fattening and poison-laden food, and the Pharmaceutical companies sell maintenance drugs to mitigate the issues cause by that diet. So the health care system in the US is great. It's the lousy lifestyle and diet of Americans that makes them unhealthy.
I am a crackpot
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mcgrew on Saturday November 29 2014, @02:12AM
Damn it, I was moderating. Not this thread, I guess.
The Monsanto and corporate farms produce low nutrient, fattening and poison-laden food, and the Pharmaceutical companies sell maintenance drugs to mitigate the issues cause by that diet.
Monsanto doesn't farm, they sell seed and chemicals. The crops aren't low in nutrients; eat your fruit and veggies and you get all the nutrients you need. Eat McDonald's every day and you'll get sick. The poor diet and too many calories isn't the farmer's fault, poor diet is from choosing the wrong foods, and the calories are from your not being smart enough to realize that the meal the restaurant is serving is really TWO meals. Take half home, you fat dumbass.
Your "poison-laden food" reeks of schizophrenia, or perhaps simply ignorance. Do you have a citation? Agriculture has never been part of my life, but living in a farming state you learn a lot of stuff.
And what "maintenance drugs?" They sell drugs to keep idiots who are trying to kill themselves alive despite their own idiotic actions.
If you hate broccoli, that's not the farmer's fault. Don't blame the farmer because you can't put the damned fork down and insist on ingesting two liters of Diet Pepsi every day.
Let me tell you of my own nutrient nightmare.
I ate what I wanted, which actually works if you listen to what your body tells you. I ate a lot of cheese. Then I had all my teeth extracted and had oral surgery to my gums and bone. I had nothing but soup for two weeks, lots of naproxin and aspirin because of the postoperative pain, and no cheese. Two months later I can eat normally again, but I've developed psoriasis -- caused by lack of calcium and triggered by NSAIDs. Since I'm back to lots of cheese and no aspirin or naproxin, it's clearing up.
Educate yourself, son. Don't believe everything you read. Pay attention to the EDU domains, they know what they're talking about.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 1) by curunir_wolf on Wednesday December 03 2014, @04:35AM
Okay, I thought more people were aware of these issues, so I didn't bother to explain it. I guess I have to spell it out for you (since you decided it would be appropriate to insult me for no good reason).
Monsanto doesn't farm, they sell seed and chemicals.
I never said they did - I guess my sentence structure was wrong or I was in a hurry. What I meant was the Monsanto-supplied factory farms are producing a lot of crap. Yes, Monsanto patents GMO seed, and sells lots of poisons to treat the crops with. Just spray all the roundup you want on everything and the corn will still grow. Of course other plants are developing resistance to it like the GMO stuff, and the only answer to that so far has been to just spray more. Monsanto funds a lot of marketing and "studies" to "prove" it's perfectly safe. But you can find studies on the issues [ewg.org] if you look. The pesticides on everything are doing more than killing off bee colonies - they are not healthy to eat.
The crops aren't low in nutrients; eat your fruit and veggies and you get all the nutrients you need.
That's a good part of my diet, lots more veggies than fruits. But I buy it from local, small farmers that use their own non-modified seed / roots / whatever, and use sustainable growing methods, not tons of pesticides and petroleum-based fertilizer. And, yes, it does have more nutrients than your factory crap [ndnr.com]. Those practices are making people sick and making food less nutritious [motherearthnews.com]
...but living in a farming state you learn a lot of stuff.
Your ignorance indicates otherwise.
And what "maintenance drugs?" They sell drugs to keep idiots who are trying to kill themselves alive despite their own idiotic actions.
Idiots that follow US nutrition guidelines, which tell them to eat lots of gluten-filled grains, and far too little good proteins. It's why the best selling drug ever is Lipitor. To lower cholesterol. Which is asinine because cholesterol is not a problem (yea, I have references, but I suspect someone like you that just likes to throw out ignorant comments, insults, and call people names is probably not interested in educating himself). The problem is the over-processed, low-fat diet promoted by the food industry. You need those saturated fats (as you discovered when you were not getting your cheese).
The other problem is all the autoimmune diseases exacerbated by these high wheat content, processed food diets. Malabsorption can be fixed with the right diet. Often that requires starting with a raw-food, organic vegetable diet, lots of coconut oil, and supplements. I've seen people brought back from the brink of death over issues that conventional medicine could not treat.
Educate yourself, son.
Back at you, grandpa.
I am a crackpot
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 28 2014, @07:39PM
If you want to be treated equal, act human.
(Score: 4, Informative) by kaszz on Friday November 28 2014, @07:41PM
The personal freedom index (top-3):
New zealand
Norway
Australia
Found only an incomplete list on the personal freedom. But the bibliography can be found at page 27. So the summary reference a quote in a ranking that doesn't prove full list or source data. In essence the result can't be proven to be correct.
The overall prosperity index (top-22):
1 Norway
2 Switzerland
3 New Zealand
4 Denmark
5 Canada
6 Sweden
7 Australia
8 Finland
9 Netherlands
10 United States
11 Iceland
12 Ireland
13 United Kingdom
14 Germany
15 Austria
16 Luxembourg
17 Belgium
18 Singapore
19 Japan
20 Hong Kong
21 France
22 Taiwan
Seems like the where the most oppertunities are is changing. But don't worry any property you succeed to grab will be flooded eventually..
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hubie on Friday November 28 2014, @08:22PM
For such a breathless article title, you really had to dig to find it in that report. The biggest issue I have is there is no context for the drop in ranking. If a lot of countries were largely grouped together, maybe the difference between the higher rankings and the lower rankings is insignificant and it means absolutely nothing. Or maybe the countries were so spread out that dropping a few places is a big deal. You can't tell anything from that report.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Friday November 28 2014, @08:32PM
Yeah, the dynamics is lost in these kinds of rankings. Ie is the difference between position 10 and 11 like 2 times or 5 times? etc.
The real factor to look out for is what factors are actually relevant for you as a person. The average is most likely a sloppy match. Looking at the individual factors is likely more important. Perhaps economic and personal freedom is of more importance than freedom of expression when starting a business. Otoh, these factors tend to be interconnected.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday November 28 2014, @10:17PM
Yeah, it requires doing a little homework. As a hypothetical example with me just pulling stuff out of my ass here, "country A" is ranked highly but affords you little to no digital privacy. Contrast that with "country B," which has lower ranking on the scale but offers total digital privacy with strong legal protections but more limited free speech by way of blasphemy laws or laws against holocaust denial.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 29 2014, @05:06AM
What about marrying young girls and being her master?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 28 2014, @11:32PM
no context for the drop in ranking
"Are you better off now than you were X years ago?" where X=1.
-- gewg_
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hubie on Saturday November 29 2014, @03:07AM
That sounds good on a political stage, but if you have a bunch of data points and all their error bars overlap, it doesn't matter what order you list them in.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday November 30 2014, @07:14AM
You may be better of by voting on X that provides a short term boost. Only to leave a mess that a few years later will screw you for many years. So the test is incomplete. And worst of all, it might not matter what you vote. Because other interest has way more influence than any voter.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by jmorris on Friday November 28 2014, @07:54PM
Well Obama promised us Change and he delivered. Perhaps we should have demanded his Press ask him what sort of Change he had in mind when he promised to 'fundamentally transform America.' Electing him to find out turns out to be as unwise as passing Obamacare to find out what was in it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 28 2014, @07:57PM
Yes, Hobama's doing a great job eh?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday November 28 2014, @08:46PM
You voted for the Repubocrats and expected change? ;-)
Yes we can! Eavesdrop!! :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 29 2014, @01:04AM
He never promised POSITIVE change!
He did not lie. He delivered.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 29 2014, @03:54AM
Can't marry young girls, Bible more free than America.