Florida ranked #1 nationwide in fiscal and economic freedom, #2 in education freedom by prominent think tank



On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted, "Florida ranks #1 among the states for economic freedom!" This ranking refers to the Cato Institute's "Freedom in the 50 States" index of personal and economic freedom.

William Ruger, vice president for research and policy at the Charles Koch Institute, and Jason Sorens, director of the Center for Ethics in Society at Saint Anselm College, authored the libertarian think tank's report, which determined that Florida was #1 in economic freedom, #1 in fiscal freedom, #2 in education freedom, and #2 overall for freedom in the Union.

\u201cFlorida ranks #1 among the states for economic freedom! \n\nhttps://t.co/eFxr8wVOSt\u201d
— Ron DeSantis (@Ron DeSantis) 1661799600

Freedom, as conceived by the Cato Institute authors, is predicated upon a framework of individual rights, in which individuals "should be allowed to dispose of their lives, liberties, and property as they see fit, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others." This understanding is informed, in part, by "the natural-rights liberal thought of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and Robert Nozick."

Variables and freedom defined

As it pertains to fiscal policy, Florida's relative freedom ranking was calculated on the basis of of the following policy variables:

  • state taxation;
  • location taxation;
  • government consumption and investment;
  • government employment;
  • government debt; and
  • cash and security assets.

"Florida's state-level tax collections are more than 1.5 standard deviations below the national average," the report indicated. "Government consumption and debt are lower than average."

Despite Florida's position in the top spots for economic and fiscal freedom on the index, the think tank nevertheless recommended that Florida "decentralize taxing and spending powers from counties to municipalities and make it easy for municipalities to control their own school districts."

For education freedom, Florida's top-five ranking reflects a number of variables, including: public school choice; homeschoolers' curriculum control; compulsory school years; and the mandatory state approval of private schools.

The data the rankings rely upon reflect code laws enacted as of January 1, 2020, as well as tax, asset, and debt information collected and analyzed going as far back as 2019. Consequently, actions taken by the DeSantis administration in 2022 — such as the Parental Rights in Education bill — are not reflected in the present rankings.

Based on the index's criteria, many of the state's recent freedom-focused initiatives might secure for Florida a higher freedom ranking in subsequent reports. By the same token, since the Cato Institute is markedly libertarian and not socially conservative (as evidenced by its upgrade of Florida for personal freedom after the nationalization of gay marriage), Florida's abortion law may be cited as grounds for a potential downgrade.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The top five states extolling and protecting freedom so defined are (in this order): New Hampshire, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee, and South Dakota.

The worst five states overall, in terms of the freedoms enjoyed by the Americans living in them, are: Oregon (#46, down six spots since 2020), New Jersey (#47), California (#48), Hawaii (#49), and New York (#50).

California, for instance, sits second to last because it is "one of the highest-taxed states in the country" and "one of the worst states on land-use freedom." According to the report, "California is a classic left-wing state on social issues" wherein gun rights "are among the weakest in the country and have been weakened consistently over time."

Gov. Kathy Hochul's New York has sat dead last in the nation on the freedom index for over 20 years. Whereas some Democrat states have middling personal freedom and low economic freedom, New York allegedly performs poorly in both dimensions.

All of the governors in the top five states are Republicans, with the exception of Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak. All of the governors in the worst five states are Democrats.

Biden pledges to cut US emissions by 50% in 9 years — here's what that could mean for you



President Joe Biden held a climate summit with dozens of world leaders on Thursday, where he pledged to cut America's greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 — with or without approval from Congress.

Besides claiming that Biden's promised transformation of the U.S. economy under a Green New Deal-type image would create millions of jobs, the administration has not explained how its plan would impact everyday life for Americans. But some folks are already starting to do the math.

What are the details?

The New York Times wrote that achieving Biden's climate goal "would mean a very different America," pointing to studies that show what the "far-reaching" changes could look like within nine years:

  • Half of the country's electricity would come from renewable sources such as wind, solar, or hydropower, up from one-fifth today (meaning "the number of wind turbines and solar panels dotting the nation's landscape could quadruple").
  • Two-thirds of new cars and SUVs sold would be battery-powered, up from roughly 2% today.
  • Oil and gas producers would slash emissions of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas, by 60%.
  • Virtually all of the 200 remaining coal plants in the U.S. would shut down unless they can also capture their emissions and bury them underground.

The Times noted that "policymakers would have to take care in crafting measures that do not cause serious economic harm, such as widespread job losses or spikes in energy prices, that could lead to blowback."

With those points taken into consideration, The Daily Mail gathered studies to show how such sweeping reforms might impact the average American. The outlet compiled a number of recent studies to show how drastic the changes would look.

According to the Mail, a study by Michigan University's Center for Sustainable Systems showed Americans may have to cut their red meat consumption by 90%, to 4 pounds per year. That is the equivalent of limiting your intake to one hamburger per month. Consumption of all other meats would need to be cut by half.

What else?

The outlet confirmed the Times' estimate that 65% of new cars and SUVs would have to be electric, adding that 10% of new trucks sales would also have to be electric while noting, "The average cost of a new electric vehicle is about $55,000."

One-fourth of Americans would need to stop heating their homes with natural gas and switch to electricity, meaning a rough investment of more than $5,500 for those households to install an electric heat pump.

In the end, the administration's plan will likely cost trillions of dollars to taxpayers.

Before Biden was even elected, Stanford University fellow Bjorn Lomborg argued in the Orange County Register that the Democrat was guilty of "climate panic," noting that many of his proposals would hurt Americans' pocketbooks and not even achieve significant benefits to the environment.

Lomborg concluded that "Biden's plan will cost $3,500 per taxpayer each year. And this cost will increase significantly."