Americans Bid America Farewell

Two pro-freedom friends have told me that they are relocating to foreign countries.  One, the head of an academic department at CUNY, is moving with his wife and 12-year-old daughter to a university in Dubai.  A second, the owner of a diner on Route 28 in Phoenicia, New York, told me that he is moving with his pregnant wife to the Philippines.  Both have numerous reasons for the moves: The former is frustrated with CUNY while the latter's wife is originally from the Philippines.   Both, though, named the American political-and-economic situation as an important consideration.

Benjamin Franklin said, "Where liberty is, there is my country."  Neither the UAE nor the Phillipines is, according to the Heritage Foundation's rankings, freer than the US.   However, I suspect the Heritage Foundation overrates the extent of freedom in the US.

The Heritage Foundation considers five countries as free:


1. Hong Kong  89.3
2. Singapore     88.0
3. Australia      82.6
4. New Zealand  81.4
5. Switzerland    81.1-0

In addition, the ranking lists 30 countries as mostly free:

6	Canada	79.4	-0.5		21	Georgia	72.2	+2.8
7	Chile	79.0	+0.7		22	Lithuania	72.1	+0.6
8	Mauritius	76.9	-0.1		23	Iceland	72.1	+1.2
9	Denmark	76.1	-0.1		24	Japan	71.8	+0.2
10	United States	76.0	-0.3		25	Austria	71.8	+1.5
11	Ireland	75.7	-1.2		26	Macau	71.7	-0.1
12	Bahrain	75.5	+0.3		27	Qatar	71.3	0.0
13	Estonia	75.3	+2.1		28	United Arab Emirates	71.1	+1.8
14	United Kingdom	74.8	+0.7		29	Czech Republic	70.9	+1.0
15	Luxembourg	74.2	-0.3		30	Botswana	70.6	+1.0
16	Finland	74.0	+1.7		31	Norway	70.5	+1.7
17	The Netherlands	73.5	+0.2		32	Saint Lucia	70.4	-0.9
18	Sweden	72.9	+1.2		33	Jordan	70.4	+0.5
19	Germany	72.8	+1.8		34	South Korea	70.3	+0.4
20	Taiwan	72.7	+0.8		35	The Bahamas	70.1	+2.1

The freedom rankings are based  on 10 measures of economic freedom (in parentheses) grouped in to four main headings:

1. Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption);
2. Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending);
3. Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom); and
4. Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom).

It seems to me that one of the chief freedoms, freedom of exit, is given insufficient weight.  Freedom to flee a renegade state is so crucial to the overall state of freedom that it should be given a broader heading.  Among the mostly free and free countries America comes nearly last with respect to freedom of exit.  Expatriates' income is taxed and those who wish to renounce American citizenship have their retirement accounts taxed; for many Americans this makes exit tantamount to financial suicide.

In America, the median household wealth was $77,300 in 2010 and $126,400 in 2007, according to the New York Times.  According to OECD data, which is probably a few years old:

Household net-adjusted disposable income is the amount of money that a household earns each year after tax. It represents the money available to a household for spending on goods or services. In (the) United States, the average household net-adjusted disposable income is 38 001 USD a year, much higher than the OECD average of 23 047 USD.

Household financial wealth is the total value of a household’s financial worth. In the United States, the average household net financial wealth is estimated at 115 918 USD, much higher than the OECD average of 40 516 USD and the highest figure in the OECD. While the ideal measure of household wealth should include real assets (e.g. land and dwellings), such information is currently available for only a small number of OECD countries.

Much of Americans' wealth is in IRAs and retirement accounts.  That money is taxed upon renunciation of US citizenship.


According to International Living the best places to retire are these:

1.Ecuador	100	95	73	62	72	45	86	96	81
2. Panama	93	100	62	63	77	74	93	69	80
3. Mexico	94	90	68	66	76	59	81	92	79
4. France	78	60	59	81	100	92	100	87	78
5. Italy	85	65	64	85	90	62	100	87	78
6. Uruguay	94	80	64	72	72	61	100	93	77
7. Malta	88	72	66	71	80	52	100	95	76
8. Chile	95	87	60	67	73	73	98	59	76
9. Spain	90	65	56	68	90	66	100	79	75
10. Costa Rica	95	76	62	60	78	60	95	79	75
11. Brazil	92	74	66	61	73	62	83	82	74
12. Argentina	92	60	61	70	82	56	100	91	74
13. Colombia	98	70	68	58	72	44	71	92	73
14. New Zealand	96	55	58	59	86	70	100	84	73
15. U.S.	57	78	57	79	78	100	100	80	73
16. Portugal	72	74	60	72	77	56	100	83	72
17. Australia	57	69	56	58	87	92	100	84	71
18. Belize	83	78	69	58	60	60	82	65	70
19. Malaysia	96	62	66	71	68	44	86	43	69
20. Ireland	78	80	28	81	79	60	100	65	68
21. Nicaragua	98	60	66	57	66	36	69	68	67
22. U.K.	57	80	30	70	84	80	100	66	67
23. Honduras	97	50	65	32	66	40	71	83	64
24. Dom Rep	97	60	58	47	60	40	70	57	63
25. Thailand	92	45	68	65	63	32	60	24

The only country freer than the US that is also a desirable retirement destination is Chile. This makes a choice difficult.  I am thinking of doing a systematic study of the top twenty countries on both lists to draw my own conclusions.  I haven't traveled much, so this would be an enjoyable and useful project.