WooHoo!!! We're No. 1!

Yey! Cato Institute just published a study "that ranks the American states according to how their public policies affect individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres" aptly named Freedom In The 50 States. Guess where the State of New York came out on the list. Betcha' can't get it right. {{{{Drumroll, please}}}... Yeah, we came in #1 in least free state in the union.

Okay, well, if you are going to get all "truthy" and spin it in "the worst case scenario", I guess you could say that the State of New York actually came in last at #50. Okay, yeah, it has been the same since 2000. Stop being so negative, ya'll! [That should be "youse guys" actually]

Anyway, I took a quick look a the analysis and the first paragraph made me do a "Home Alone" kind of facial gesture.

New York is again the least free state in the country. Its huge, glaring weakness is fiscal policy. If New York were to adopt a fiscal regime closer to that of California, New Jersey, or Connecticut, its overall economic freedom score would be close to theirs. As it is, New York looks set to remain the least free state for many years to come.

Well, my opinion is that California (#46), New Jersey (#40), and Connecticut (#44) are not the prime example of "fiscal" freedom that New York should emulate. But I guess you can't jump to mid-lowests without first climbing over the other lowests first. And hey, NY is first in "Same-Sex Marriage" freedom and....there is nothing else actually. As a side note: NJ's fiscal responsibilty rating has gone up since Gov. Christie took over in 2010. In 10 years (2000-2010), it went from #15 to #43. So give Gov. Christie credit for moving the state up a few notches to #40.

Well, Cuomo's office went on the attack according to this NY Post article published in today's paper...

Gov. Cuomo’s office defended New York’s record.

“We’re proud of our efforts to protect renters and combat smoking,” said Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi.

‎”New York is the progressive capital of the world and, despite what any right wing think tank says,” Azzopardi said.

“Any objective review of the facts would have also found this administration’s reforms led to the lowest middle class tax rates in 70 years, the lowest manufacturing tax rate since 1917, the lowest corporate tax rate since 1968, a property tax cap, six budgets in a row with spending capped to 2 percent and the lowest debt to personal income ratio since the 1960s.”

None of this is true in any practical way. Oh, yeah, the taxes may have gone down from extraordinarily high to just extremely high. After all NY leads the way with the highest taxes in the country. In that we can clearly claim that #1 spot! And all of the progessive job creation schemes Cuomo has instituted have amounted to about less than 1200 jobs. At last count, the Governor's office has spent about $2billion+ on these schemes, but most of that has been spent in advertising by the Governor's office.

And I nearly fell out of my chair when I read Cato's "Policy Recommendation". These "recommendations" are sadly laughable mainly because none of these cuts will ever happen.

Policy Recommendations

Fiscal: Cut spending on hospitals, housing, libraries, public welfare, sanitation and sewerage, public transit, employee retirement, and “miscellaneous”; cut all taxes, and pay down debt.

Regulatory: Abolish rent control. This move could have raised New York to 47th, just behind Connecticut, on regulatory policy.

Personal: Slash tobacco taxes, which are so high as to be almost tantamount to prohibition.

In all fairness to the last one, the whole point of the high tobacco taxes was specifically designed to eventually prohibit smoking. It is worse (or better) in NYC with smoking bans in buildings, restaurants, bars, parks, beaches, and some residential dwellings, it is almost complete. Hey, it could have been 16oz sodas, so I guess we're luckier than most.

Anyway, for more details on where your state stands on the Freedom scale, click on your state to get the ranking; click on "How It's Calculated" to find out the details used to rank and if you want a free .pdf copy of the 266 page report click on "Print Edition" and download. If you are from the "Live Free Or Die" state of New Hampshire, you are the lucky ones. But, hopefully you are more free than we are in New York. Good Luck!