Nevada falls in rankings again

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has released the latest freedom rankings, Freedom In The 50 States. Nevada dropped to 20th in the overall rankings from 13th just a few years ago and down from 4th in 2001. The Mercatus Center measures several variables and different types of freedom ranging from personal freedoms to economic freedoms. The interactive map is a very easy way to compare different states and even classify them according to how you rank the value of different types of freedom. You can even create your chart. Why has Nevada fallen from a top 5 to barely above average? The main factor Nevada has dropped is because of its fiscal ranking. In 2001, Nevada ranked 8th in fiscal policy and in the latest ranking, Nevada dropped to 33rd. Fiscal policy includes the tax burden, government spending, government employment, government debt and fiscal decentralization. A large portion of this decline could be attributed to the recession, the loss of personal income and the decline in tourism really hurt Nevada’s fiscal rankings. While our regulatory score is improving, the only thing keeping our score above average is our rankings in personal freedom, mainly because of legalized gambling and legalized prostitution. Nevada isn’t the only place that dropping in freedom rankings, the United States is dropping on the world freedom rankings as well. It’s really disturbing that the United States, the freest country in the world barely ranks in the top ten. The land of the free and home of the brave is fading, the economic stranglehold the government applies is sucking the freedom out of our country. I think it speaks volumes when a communist controlled Hong Kong leads the freedom rankings. Granted, it’s ranked on economic freedom and China only took control in 1997, but shouldn’t the freest country on the planet be ranked first? Even when you factor in personal freedom, the United States still ranks in the bottom half of the top ten. Like I said earlier, it’s not a very good ranking for the “freest” country in the world. Please see my examiner article here for links.