Per the most recent results, the top 25% of countries in economic freedom scores have a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $52,877, 7.5 times higher than that of the bottom 25%, $6,968.
The poorest 10% in the most economically free countries have a per capita income, $7,610, eight times higher than the poorest 10% in the least economically free, $952.
In the most economically free countries, 1% experience extreme poverty (living on less than $2.15 per day), while in the least economically free, 30% experience extreme poverty.
I recently reported on a new Cato Institute/YouGov survey noting that 62% of Americans 18-29 have a “favourable view” of socialism, and 34% have a “favourable view” of communism.
What’s going on? Why are so many of our youth so deeply lost and confused? The truth and the facts are openly available for anyone to read. Why isn’t this basic information about economic life making its way to young Americans?
It’s reason again to scrutinize what is going on in our government and teachers’ union-controlled public schools, where there is more interest in conveying left-wing ideology than developing our children’s skills to read, do math and think.
This has migrated to our universities, where, on too many campuses, the pursuit of truth has been displaced by ideology and indoctrination.
It’s not surprising that there is a large gap between Democratic and Republican support for educational institutions in America.
Per Gallup, 18% of Republicans versus 44% of Democrats say they have a “great deal/quite a lot of confidence” in our public schools. And 26% of Republicans versus 61% of Democrats say they have a “great deal/quite a lot of confidence” in higher education.
The great physicist Richard Feynman observed, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Maybe George Will is right that Mamdani’s election will provide a wake-up call to the nation.