I do not ignore that fact. You are correct. But this post is concerned with Free Markets vs. Socialism. Neither John McCain nor George W. Bush will be missed on this site, but Obama — the most liberal senator — will certainly not be any better. His name is mentioned in this article simply because he is the president-elect and has expressed an interest in “spreading the wealth,” bankrupting the coal industry, and providing “tax relief” for 40% of Americans who don’t even pay taxes to begin with (read: welfare check) –PoliticalPyro

And of course statistics should generally be taken with a grain of salt, yet when poking around the numbers on Heritage.org, I couldn’t help but think those nations hovering in the top quarter of economic freedom were much better off than those in the bottom.

As to whether a 47.5% income tax bracket is economically healthy compared with 20%, I think statistics can be of some use. If we tried to compare 47.5% with 46% (for example), I agree we might run into some problems.

As far as caning is concerned, I’m afraid we have become much too sensitive to that. Yet, perhaps that is part of our problem. We all recognize having a crime problem, yet we do nothing about it. I suppose the American equivalent would be “community service,” like picking up trash on freeways.

Still, isn’t it interesting that an island nation of 4 million people with a land area “slightly more than 3.5 times the size of Washington, DC” can become a world economic powerhouse? You must agree they are doing something right.

Finally, I disagree that we should legalize pot and force everyone to have a joint after a hard day’s work. If we did that, the only thing people would do afterward is sit around on their computers all night posting comments to political blogs ;P

There’s lies, damn lies, and statistics. You can make numbers say whatever you want. Just because taxes are low, doesn’t mean that it’s a cure all, end all to every social-economic-political problem! It’s the conservative solution to everything. lol. There’re MANY factors involved in those numbers. I mean, I agree, I think freedom should be HIGH and taxes should be reasonable-low… but you can’t say that those two things are the reason for all those numbers….

For example, Singapore allows for public caining. Should we follow that example? Does that factor in to any of those numbers? Singapore’s penalties for many crimes are EXTREMELY tough. Hey… maybe that’s a good thing, maybe a bad thing. I dunno. But I do know it’s a factor in those numbers.

My solution?

Make pot legal and force everyone to have a joint after a hard day’s work.

Who could be motivated to commit a crime then?