Government and the Index of Economic Freedom

The Index of Economic Freedom is composite of ten economic measurements created by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. Its stated objective is to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations. [reference 1)] Essentially these boil down to a composite measure of: a) good government; and b) less government.

The Baseline Scenario blog posted an article from StatsGuy [reference 2)], arguing contrary to its usual interpretation the Index of Economic Freedom does not support the position that less government is a good thing. Instead, StatsGuy outlines statistically how the Index makes the case for clean, non-corrupt, efficient government. I am not certain I agree with the logic espoused, but the conclusion seems reasonable. Unfortunately, it is naïve to think any large bureaucracy, especially a government, can avoid being anything but dirty, corrupt, and inefficient. The Deepwater Horizon Incident, okay, instead of labeling it what the federal government insists on, I will call it what it really is - a Disaster, is evidence of the ineptitude of large organizations, private and especially governmental, even when well-intentioned. Ronald Reagan over simplified when he said "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." [reference 3)] Nonetheless, he was far closer to what I see as reality than those who see government as a solution.

References:

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_Economic_Freedom

2) http://baselinescenario.com/2010/05/27/heritage-index-good-government-vs-less-government/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+BaselineScenario+(The+Baseline+Scenario)

3) First Inaugural Address, 20 January 1981

NHL West

Just in case the extended family in the San Jose area missed the news, their beloved Sharks of the NHL are trailing 0-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL western conference Stanley Cup playoff championship. Last night's game was well played by both teams, but the Blackhawks prevailed in overtime. Okay, I really do not know enough about hockey to say both teams played well, but that is what the commentators said (including an old guy at the bar who seemed to know what he was talking about) and it appeared that way to this uninformed spectator. It is good to have a Chicago sports team do well for a change. While a Stanley Cup may be in our future (the first since 1961), it looks like it will be a long time before MLB's Commissioner's Trophy or the NFL's Lombardi Trophy show up in Chicago.