5 ms·

Freedom is evaporating everywhere. Who will fight? No individual citizen can take on states of as obscene size as never before seen. What you can do is to sto

Freedom is evaporating everywhere. Who will fight? No individual citizen can take on states of as obscene size as never before seen. What you can do is to stop sponsoring authoritarianism. Vote with your feet (and move). Pay your taxes to some place freer: https://www.heritage.org/index/heatmap https://www.heritage.org/index/heatmap https://rsf.org/en/ranking https://rsf.org/en/ranking

throwaway4good 5y ago
So you are going to move to Singapore?
docdeek 5y ago
Saudi Arabia ranked ahead of where I pay taxes (France) on that Heritage list. That’s a surprise but also a reinforcement of the idea that economic freedom does not always strictly align with political freedom.
- danuker 5y ago
  Indeed, there is a low tax burden but also little freedom of expression. That is why I included RSF's press freedom index also. Hmm. Perhaps the Heritage index was not relevant.
  - teddyh 5y ago
    Don’t forget the Corruption Perceptions Index: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
- throwaway4good 5y ago
  The heritage foundation is a classic us conservative think thank and they like Saudi Arabia and don’t particular like France. It is just politics. Of course, you are much more free in France / the eu, including when it comes to economic matters.
  - docdeek 5y ago
    I guess it depends on the definition of ‘economically free’. Maybe it is easier/less regulated opening a business in Saudi than in France? Or just faster and less paperwork? Maybe it is far easier to hire/fire people in Saudi?
    - Clewza313 5y ago
      Having worked there for a while, everything about running a business in Saudi is pretty nightmarish. But importing virtual slave labor from the third world and working them to death (all too often literally) is cheap.
      - sparsely 5y ago
        That's the same sort of freedom that the foundation's name refers to, so SA scoring well adds up.
    - baybal2 5y ago
      Saudi Arabia has a 0% tax rate. Though, I will second a neighbour comment from Clewza313. The veil of regulatory liberalism of Gulf countries crumble after your first in person interaction with a local official.
    - tablespoon 5y ago
      > I guess it depends on the definition of ‘economically free’. Maybe it is easier/less regulated opening a business in Saudi than in France? Or just faster and less paperwork? Maybe it is far easier to hire/fire people in Saudi? A lot of it is probably partially due to dumb methodology. They have Saudi Arabia's tax burden rated at 99.1%, but that's probably because Heritage is all less taxes == more better and Saudi Arabia's government is basically a state-owned oil company, so they basically don't tax at all.
  - deregulateMed 5y ago
    Conservative lost its meaning, now we just say "republican", with a lowercase r. Edit- Do conservatives make new government walls, tariffs, new taxes/tax structures, new tax credits, new gun regulations? I even heard an interesting idea, why are conservatives destroying the environment, they shouldn't want the environment to change if they are conservative. Anyway, the 2020s breed of "conservatives" would be seen as liberals in the eyes of 2000s or 1980s "conservatives".
- baybal2 5y ago
  Samely, an unpleasant surprise that somehow even India with its "bureaucratic tyranny" managed to outscore a lot of Western countries as of late.
baybal2 5y ago
> Freedom is evaporating everywhere. Who will fight? You will. If an average person can say "I will fight," people will fight, if an average person can't say "I will fight," people wouldn't, and will be subverted by ones who can. That's the only hard truth there. You people in the West, do not forget. Your freedom did not simply fall upon you from the sky once you reached some development level. Your freedom was paid in blood, guts, and violence. This is a simple historical fact. What you call the developed West today had the biggest share of revolutions, civil wars, regular wars, and general social strife than the rest of the world combined over the last 200-300 years. The shackles of slavery are very easy to put on, but extremely pricey to get rid of. Historically, great injustices almost never quietly resolved on themselves. They were either ended by external influence, or failed catastrophically in a burst of extreme violence, like slave uprisings, serf revolts, revolutions, and such. Some keep telling that lessons of the French revolution(s) are no longer relevant today, I'd say they are scarily getting more, and more relevant with each passing year.
uniqueid 5y ago
I do not want the kind of 'freedom' that the Heritage Foundation promotes.
just_one_time_ 5y ago
Don't pay taxes, using Bitcoin.

throwaway4good 5y ago

So you are going to move to Singapore?

docdeek 5y ago

Saudi Arabia ranked ahead of where I pay taxes (France) on that Heritage list. That’s a surprise but also a reinforcement of the idea that economic freedom does not always strictly align with political freedom.

danuker 5y ago
Indeed, there is a low tax burden but also little freedom of expression. That is why I included RSF's press freedom index also. Hmm. Perhaps the Heritage index was not relevant.
- teddyh 5y ago
  Don’t forget the Corruption Perceptions Index: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
throwaway4good 5y ago
The heritage foundation is a classic us conservative think thank and they like Saudi Arabia and don’t particular like France. It is just politics. Of course, you are much more free in France / the eu, including when it comes to economic matters.
- docdeek 5y ago
  I guess it depends on the definition of ‘economically free’. Maybe it is easier/less regulated opening a business in Saudi than in France? Or just faster and less paperwork? Maybe it is far easier to hire/fire people in Saudi?
  - Clewza313 5y ago
    Having worked there for a while, everything about running a business in Saudi is pretty nightmarish. But importing virtual slave labor from the third world and working them to death (all too often literally) is cheap.
    - sparsely 5y ago
      That's the same sort of freedom that the foundation's name refers to, so SA scoring well adds up.
  - baybal2 5y ago
    Saudi Arabia has a 0% tax rate. Though, I will second a neighbour comment from Clewza313. The veil of regulatory liberalism of Gulf countries crumble after your first in person interaction with a local official.
  - tablespoon 5y ago
    > I guess it depends on the definition of ‘economically free’. Maybe it is easier/less regulated opening a business in Saudi than in France? Or just faster and less paperwork? Maybe it is far easier to hire/fire people in Saudi? A lot of it is probably partially due to dumb methodology. They have Saudi Arabia's tax burden rated at 99.1%, but that's probably because Heritage is all less taxes == more better and Saudi Arabia's government is basically a state-owned oil company, so they basically don't tax at all.
- deregulateMed 5y ago
  Conservative lost its meaning, now we just say "republican", with a lowercase r. Edit- Do conservatives make new government walls, tariffs, new taxes/tax structures, new tax credits, new gun regulations? I even heard an interesting idea, why are conservatives destroying the environment, they shouldn't want the environment to change if they are conservative. Anyway, the 2020s breed of "conservatives" would be seen as liberals in the eyes of 2000s or 1980s "conservatives".
baybal2 5y ago
Samely, an unpleasant surprise that somehow even India with its "bureaucratic tyranny" managed to outscore a lot of Western countries as of late.

baybal2 5y ago

> Freedom is evaporating everywhere. Who will fight? You will. If an average person can say "I will fight," people will fight, if an average person can't say "I will fight," people wouldn't, and will be subverted by ones who can. That's the only hard truth there. You people in the West, do not forget. Your freedom did not simply fall upon you from the sky once you reached some development level. Your freedom was paid in blood, guts, and violence. This is a simple historical fact. What you call the developed West today had the biggest share of revolutions, civil wars, regular wars, and general social strife than the rest of the world combined over the last 200-300 years. The shackles of slavery are very easy to put on, but extremely pricey to get rid of. Historically, great injustices almost never quietly resolved on themselves. They were either ended by external influence, or failed catastrophically in a burst of extreme violence, like slave uprisings, serf revolts, revolutions, and such. Some keep telling that lessons of the French revolution(s) are no longer relevant today, I'd say they are scarily getting more, and more relevant with each passing year.

uniqueid 5y ago

I do not want the kind of 'freedom' that the Heritage Foundation promotes.

just_one_time_ 5y ago

Don't pay taxes, using Bitcoin.