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EDITORIAL: U.S. continues to lag in economic freedom index

During his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama told the nation that we have "recovered from the worst economic crisis in generations," and that "the United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world." While we have made some serious economic strides recently — especially in the energy sector — our ranking on the Heritage Foundation's 2016 Index of Economic Freedom indicates that the president's declaration of our economic dominance is a tad overstated.

Although the United States moved up one place from our 2015 rankings on the index, our score dropped nearly a point to 75.4, and we are still outside the top 10, behind such luminaries as Chile and Estonia. Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand took the top three spots, with Switzerland and Australia joining them as the only other nations to get the "Free" rating, with scores of 80 or higher. We're not even the leading nation in North America, as we trail Canada, which came in sixth at 78.0 to lead the "Mostly Free" category.

According to the index, Americans are "continuing to lose economic freedom." Our score has declined in seven of the last eight years, and this year's score is equal to the worst we've ever received. Pulling down the U.S. ranking the most, perhaps not surprisingly, were our scores in limited government: 54.7 in government spending and 65.6 in fiscal freedom, an F and a D, respectively, by any measure. We also rate 77 or less in monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom and freedom from corruption. And while all those rankings are dropping, our regulatory burden continues to get more and more costly.

Despite citing a "private sector–led energy boom that has made the U.S. the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas" — coupled with "some degree" of political pushback by Congress — Heritage says President Obama's "second-term efforts to expand government spending, the scope of the administrative state, and regulation" have caused the U.S. economy to continue to underperform. As primary season heats up, candidates need to remember that economic freedom in the U.S. is lagging well behind countries we'd have never previously imagined.

During his address, President Obama said that "for the past seven years, our goal has been a growing economy that works also better for everybody." And while he boldly declared that we've made economic progress, he also said "we need to make more." Well, to do that, Washington must first honestly address the terrible numbers in the Heritage report, and start supporting and enacting policies that get will us back to the top of index — where we belong.

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