HUMAN FREEDOM INDEX
The Fraser Institute's Human Freedom Index ranked 152 countries on data from 2008 to 2012.
THE 10 MOST FREE COUNTRIES
1. Hong Kong
2. Switzerland
3. Finland
4. Denmark
5. New Zealand
6. Canada
7. Australia
8. Ireland
9. United Kingdom
10. Sweden
THE 10 LEAST FREE COUNTRIES
143. Chad
144. Venezuela
145. Ethiopia
146. Algeria
147. Central African Republic
148. Yemen
149. Zimbabwe
150.Myanmar and Congo (tied)
152. Iran
Who gives a fuck what that brainless "think tank" says.
Fuck the Fraser Institute.
Hong Kong? Free?
ac_lmfao
That's the Fraser Institute for you.
By their logic, Syria is in the top ten most liveable countries.
What logic?
It's all bullshit. Just a quick glance and you can see anomalies all over the place because the numbers are all skewed. For example if you look at the charts for Rule of Law, Security, Movement. etc the UK holds 23rd place in 2008 but it then leap frogs all the way to 9th place in 2012. :laugh:
How the fuck does that happen? Did sweeping social, political and legal changes happen in the UK in that 4 year time span????? I doubt it; it looks like some simply changed the data arbitrarily to fit their needs. In fact I suspect the whole study is agenda driven garbage.
... didn't know hong kong was a country ...
... that said, the list is probably about accurate. every one of those supposedly free countries still has civil liberties problems though ...
Quote from: "Renee"
How the fuck does that happen? Did sweeping social, political and legal changes happen in the UK in that 4 year time span????? I doubt it; it looks like some simply changed the data arbitrarily to fit their needs. In fact I suspect the whole study is agenda driven garbage.
Oh you can guarantee anything put out by the Fraser Institute is skewed garbage. I don't say that as a supposed leftie about a right wing "think" tank. It's THE bottom of the barrel in terms of research and intellectual standards. I know just how badly first hand.
Quote from: "SPECTRE"
ac_lmfao
Hong Kong used to be one of the freest economies in the world. Singapore has won that title away from them though. Canada has become a much freer economy over the past 20 years too.
Neither Hong Kong or Singapore are free SOCIETIES.
Certainly Singapore's economy is free...as long as you support Lee Kuan Yew's doctrine.
Quote from: "SPECTRE"
Certainly Singapore's economy is free...as long as you support Lee Kuan Yew's doctrine.
The survey was based on economic freedom wasn't it?
Obama cares about the safety of everyone and has enacted a vast amount of laws to protect everybody including illegal immigrants.
Canada isn't that free. There's a lot of overstepping by public officials of their mandates.
I've seen this of parties on the Left and Right.
They don't announce exactly what they intend to do during election time, and then they do an about face and do exactly the opposite of what they said they were going to do.
Ie - Harper never announced that he was going to cut home postal delivery in the last election, but went ahead and did it anyway. The Liberlas have been guilty of this sort of thing too.
What we need in Canada is accountability legislation which allows a sufficient number of citizen signatures to challenge a sitting government if it introduces legislation it did not announce during an election and hold referndums to see if the laws introduced can be struck down - the only exception being that which was introduced during a time of war, crisis or a national emergency.
Switzerland is one of the few nations where everybody's votes count.
Anyone, rich or poor, no matter which ethnicity, can vote in or down a piece of legislation.
Switzerland has a true participatory democracy where ever vote in every village from every region makes a difference.
We ought to learn from the Swiss and adopt their form of democracy as well.
It's no wonde that so many immigrants from Hong Kong are returning to Hong Kong.
Quote from: "Frank"
I've seen this of parties on the Left and Right.
They don't announce exactly what they intend to do during election time, and then they do an about face and do exactly the opposite of what they said they were going to do.
Ie - Harper never announced that he was going to cut home postal delivery in the last election, but went ahead and did it anyway. The Liberlas have been guilty of this sort of thing too.
What we need in Canada is accountability legislation which allows a sufficient number of citizen signatures to challenge a sitting government if it introduces legislation it did not announce during an election and hold referndums to see if the laws introduced can be struck down - the only exception being that which was introduced during a time of war, crisis or a national emergency.
Switzerland is one of the few nations where everybody's votes count.
Anyone, rich or poor, no matter which ethnicity, can vote in or down a piece of legislation.
Switzerland has a true participatory democracy where ever vote in every village from every region makes a difference.
We ought to learn from the Swiss and adopt their form of democracy as well.
... i always enjoy reading your comments and opinions, Joe ...
... however, i think in the above post you are confusing freedom with politics. personal liberties are something different from voting. when i think of freedom i think of the ability to move around freely, physically and financially, without restrictions or barriers. what politicians do has no bearing on that ...
No citizen of any country is truly free. By definition, being a citizen means being subordinate.
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "SPECTRE"
Certainly Singapore's economy is free...as long as you support Lee Kuan Yew's doctrine.
The survey was based on economic freedom wasn't it?
It's called the "Human Freedom Index". I'm under the impression that isn't economic.
Quote from: "RW"
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "SPECTRE"
Certainly Singapore's economy is free...as long as you support Lee Kuan Yew's doctrine.
The survey was based on economic freedom wasn't it?
It's called the "Human Freedom Index". I'm under the impression that isn't economic.
It's based on a whole host of socioeconomic factors. See the link even though it is all bull cookies.
http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/human-freedom-index-files/human-freedom-index-2015.pdf
Quote from: "SPECTRE"
Well, some countries are freer than others.
Basic freedoms we take for granted simply don't exist elsewhere.
I believe in China you're always monitored over everything you write on the Internet.
And if you say something bad about the government, they can come to your door and arrest you.
Other communist countries you can't take pictures of government properties, military installations.
A friend of mine said he had to wait 3 years(and bribing government officials) to get a license to produce a magazine in Vietnam. Even then it could be censored if the guv there decided to.
Apparently, you can't just buy a printing press and start selling.
In Saudi Arabia, if you make eyes or get too close to one of their women, the religious police can come after you, have arrested, deported as well.
Quote from: "Renee"
Quote from: "RW"
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "SPECTRE"
Certainly Singapore's economy is free...as long as you support Lee Kuan Yew's doctrine.
The survey was based on economic freedom wasn't it?
It's called the "Human Freedom Index". I'm under the impression that isn't economic.
It's based on a whole host of socioeconomic factors. See the link even though it is all bull cookies.
http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/human-freedom-index-files/human-freedom-index-2015.pdf
The Fraser Institute likes to rank a whole lot of things based on weak and lazy research.