Washington ranked 40th in personal and economic freedom (Olympia, George: sales, rent)

[kanhawk]

For what it's worth. Each person can decide how fair or biased this report is.

Freedom in the 50 States | Mercatus

Our neighbors Oregon and Idaho did much better in this survey.

[Ancalagon]

The fact that we are #22 in personal freedoms, #41 in economic freedoms and that gives us an overall ranking of #40 tells me that right off the bat the rankings are skewed towards economic freedoms.

Also it seems that it double counts some things. Like for instance it says our budget is too big, that's a hit, then it says that we have too many government employees, another hit. Seems to me those two are kinda related.

So in other words, I find it's personal freedom rankings somewhat interesting but the economic mostly worthless.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Ancalagon

....it says our budget is too big, that's a hit, then it says that we have too many government employees, another hit. Seems to me those two are kinda related. ....

Don't tell Christine that, she seems 'clueless' that her previous charge of growing WA Dept of Ecology a few hundred % under her charge (and making it impossible to farm / do business / create jobs in WA State) has ANYTHING to do with current WA budget issues...


Hummmm... WA companies are fleeing to ID and even Oregon .

(Idaho's unofficial motto is "Washington Business Owners are our BEST friends") EZ pick'ns for economic growth !

My economic freedom has certainly declined since my WA property taxes went from $800 / yr to $12,000 / yr = $30+ per day, and I feed my family on $3/day as well as drive a $30. car that gets 50 mpg on free fryer grease.

WA state collects 40% of my living expenses (Healthcare another 40%)

[Malloric]

Look at Alaska... #4 in personal freedom and it comes out 44th overall. Really, I'd rather be someplace with less economic freedom and more personal freedom than more economic freedom and less personal freedom.

[NW Crow]

Mercatus Center at George Mason University describes itself as "the world’s premier university source for market-oriented ideas..." and "Mercatus works to advance knowledge about how markets work to improve our lives".

This appears on the surface, in my opinion (so far), to be an organization with a preconceived bias and an agenda.


One of the co-authors Jason Sorens founded the libertarian Free State Project that ended up choosing New Hampshire for its target for in-migration of "freedom loving individuals".

And, by pure coincidence I am sure, New Hampshire gets picked by their criteria as the freest state.

The Free State Project's goal was for 20,000 pro-freedom “activists” to move to a single state of the U.S to be a vanguard for the promotion of their freedom priorities. After 10 years, they report 800 have moved in and 200 natives have self-declared affiliation or support.
Why so few? Overall New Hampshire ranked only 36th on migration rate over the last 5 years, losing 3,000 people more than it gained. Guess the average person is using different criteria. Washington state ranked 40th on freedom? To the report authors with their selected set of criteria, but maybe not to the real people that made it the 6th highest state on in-migration from 2005 to 2009.


The report says Washington and Oregon were the in the top 4 for "improvement" on their freedom indicators from 2007 to 2009. Really, did you feel the improvement? Where? In economics or personal freedom?


They do admit this though: "the positive effect [on in-migration] of personal freedom is actually more than twice as large as that of economic freedom"
http://mercatus.org/freedom-50-state...ing-discussion
But the report emphasizes economic issues more prominently. In the state reports 2/3rds of the attention is devoted to fiscal and regulatory policies. Within personal freedoms the focus is on gun control. sex same marriage, cigarette taxes and home school testing requirements. I've just started reviewing the report in greater depth but the ideological bias of it just leaps out with everything I've seen so far.



And looking into it further, what do I find? Who is on their board? None other than Charles Koch. And what does the Mercatus Center do other than put out lists like this one? Why attack the EPA who has been a thorn to and a fierce target of Charles Koch and fight for deregulation of things that almost universally benefit corporations and those that own large stakes in them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercatus_Center

"Since 1985, George Mason University (GMU), and its associated institutes and centers, has received more funding from the Koch Family Charitable Foundations than any other organization—a total of $29,604,354. The George Mason University Foundation has received the most funding, $20,297,143, while the Institute for Humane Studies has been directly given $3,111,457, the Mercatus Center $1,442,000, and George Mason University itself has received $4,753,754."
http://www.desmogblog.com/koch-and-g...son-university

"In 2002 the Mercatus Center led a focused attack on the Clean Air Act."


So I'd take a freedom report from an D.C. area organization, financed by the foundations of Koch and other conservative and libertarian financial elites, doing just enough to avoid having to register as lobbyists or pay taxes and mainly pushing for repeal of laws that benefit big business with consideration caution.

[Seacove]

I agree, this thing screamed propaganda to me.

[NW Crow]

Washington has a high minimum wage in the country and surely got marked down on "freedom" in this report because of it. The freedom to afford rent and food a littler better apparently considered by the authors as less important than the freedom of the employer to seek lower costs.

Fund worker's comp more than average, get marked down. License more professions who deliver very important services to people, get marked down. Make home schools show performance or private schools prove teacher competence, get marked down. Regulate campaign contributions from the wealthy and corporations, get marked down. Provide some public financing, get marked down. Have COBRA benefits after leaving a job with a small firm, get marked down. Freedom to request to see a specialist about a medical condition, get marked down. Have liability laws that corporations don't like, get marked down. Pretty clear whose freedom is considered more important here.



I noticed that Mr Sorens happens to live in Buffalo New York (ranked 50th on freedom) working for a tax-supported university after going to graduate school in the 38th ranked Connecticut and having left Virginia, a top 10 ranked state on freedom on his list, before that. Quite the personal march backwards on "freedom". I hear he tried to get an academic job in New Hampshire but was unsuccessful and it appears may have lived or visited there for perhaps only a few months. We are not all completely free in our choices of course but the contrast between the state scores and the succession in living choices seemed pretty different. In a Huffington Post article he praises the cultural amenities of New York City. The poster child for government activism. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_876616.html
But... "he thinks lower taxes in other states... may make them more attractive in the future." Interesting attempt to get sell that message... for others, later. And what better vehicle to promote freedom from than thru a D.C. think tank?

[NW Crow]

In above post I said in part: Freedom to request to see a specialist about a medical condition, get marked down." I might be wrong on this specific point. Not sure which party they sided with in this instance.

[NW Crow]

New Hampshire tends to be proud of being against certain taxes (no income or sales taxes). But less noticed may be that property taxes are double the national average. And they just cut support for the University System of New Hampshire in half in July and they were already 49th or 50th on support for higher education per capita before this 50% cut. So freedom from some taxes makes the freedom of home ownership difficult for new buyers and the freedom to send your kids to a state supported university more rare or more expensive. But in these rankings the freedom from certain taxes was the only one that got scored and got some credit.

I can see why finding a higher ed job in New Hampshire might be difficult. New York state support for higher ed has slipped but it is still better than New Hampshire's.

I can see why not some people (and even some businesses) attracted to New Hampshire for certain freedoms might be somewhat less attracted after learning other parts of the story. (In the case of the Free State Project only about 1 in 10-15 of those who pledged to move there have so far.)

Freedoms come in many areas of life and in many particular forms. They often benefit some more than others or one freedom comes at the cost of others. Good to examine. Carefully. In any state of interest. For yourself, your family, now and in the future, and perhaps for the community as a whole as well.

[Movingrightalong...]

Like anything, it's a balance. Washington's "personal freedom" ranking is probably skewed upward by things like "can I marry my goat" and "can I take a dump on the sidewalk at an occupy wall street protest" vs "can I carry my gun around". Economic freedom rankings are hurt by the Olympia machine's insatiable appetite for bigger government measured in more taxation and regulation.