Chart of the Week: How Countries Compare on Economic Freedom

Heritage and the Wall Street Journal released the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom on Thursday, ranking 179 countries on 10 benchmarks that gauge their economic success. This year Heritage introduced a new interactive feature that gives you the opportunity to create a comparative graph. This week’s chart shows how the United States stacks up against Canada and the United Kingdom. As recently as 2009, the United States led both countries in economic freedom. But after four years of decline, the United States is heading in the wrong direction. This year … More

Chart of the Week: How Countries Compare on Economic Freedom

Heritage and the Wall Street Journal released the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom on Thursday, ranking 179 countries on 10 benchmarks that gauge their economic success. This year Heritage introduced a new interactive feature that gives you the opportunity to create a comparative graph. This week’s chart shows how the United States stacks up against Canada and the United Kingdom. As recently as 2009, the United States led both countries in economic freedom. But after four years of decline, the United States is heading in the wrong direction. This year … More

Moving Forward with the U.S.-India–Australia Trilateral Dialogue

Last week, The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center hosted a very timely discussion on the prospects for U.S.–Australia–India Trilateral Cooperation featuring Graham Fletcher, the deputy chief of mission at the Australian embassy in Washington, D.C.; Sunjoy Joshi, the director of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), an Indian think tank; Heritage’s own Walter Lohman, director of its Asian Studies Center; and Heritage senior research fellow for South Asia Lisa Curtis. This event follows the recent release of “Shared Goals, Converging Interests: A Plan for U.S.–Australia–India Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific,” a joint … More

As Long as We’re Talking About ‘Cold War Mentality’

In recent weeks, representatives of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have complained of America’s “Cold War mentality.” The rhetoric is in reaction to President Obama’s recent swing through the Pacific and particularly his announcement in Australia of a sustained rotation of aircraft and up to 2,500 Marines through northern Australia. This rhetoric is nothing new. The Chinese often dismiss America’s system of alliances in Asia as “relics” of the Cold War. They have apparently found it a handy talking point in a region that is as dynamic as East … More