America, the land of the free, is not so free when it comes to global economic freedom rankings. Furthermore, the fall in Uncle Sam’s rankings has not been missed by crypto industry executives and analysts.
On June 26, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cited data from a new report on the decline of economic freedom in the U.S.
“Economic freedom remains an important measure of every country’s potential for growth and prosperity,” he said.
Economic Freedom Falling
According to the Reason magazine report on June 21, the United States has fallen to 25th in the world for economic freedom. According to data from the Heritage Foundation, it was once ranked fourth in the world.
The foundation ranks a country’s economic freedom based on factors such as the rule of law, regulatory efficiency, open markets, and fiscal health.
The big reason the U.S. fell in the rankings is that Congress spends so much more money than government can squeeze out of citizens in taxes, noted the report. Furthermore, the Heritage Foundation’s Derrick Morgan said:
“If you care about living a prosperous life, you should care about what government economic policies are,”
“More dollars chasing fewer goods leads to inflation, and inflation leaves us less financial freedom,” he added. The U.S. inflation rate is still high at 4% but has fallen from just over 9% at the same time last year.
Worried about economic woes in America? Here’s how to plan:
Moreover, American policymakers “add thousands of regulations, most of which restrict individual freedom,” the report noted.
However, ranking 25th isn’t all that bad. The most repressed countries in the world included Sudan, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea.
Financial regulators are currently battling to quash the crypto industry in America. Industry observers have suggested that the move is to enable their Wall Street backers to control the space. Furthermore, restricting retail traders from accessing this new asset class certainly doesn’t improve America’s economic freedom status.
Singapore Tops the List
Singapore tops the list in terms of economic freedom, while Taiwan, Ireland, and Switzerland get honorable mentions.
Commenting on the rise of Singapore to economic superiority, Armstrong said:
“They’ve done an incredible job on most dimensions measured. One area of concern is that they’ve taken a step back on allowing retail crypto trading which I think is short-sighted and anti-freedom.”
Singapore has been a destination of choice for several high-profile American crypto and fintech firms recently.
Both Ripple and stablecoin issuer Circle have recently been granted payment licenses to operate in the Asian island nation. Additionally, Coinbase received its Singapore license from the central bank in October 2022.
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