Breaking Free to Succeed

 During the week of May 25th I will be working in Bulgaria with a hard working and ethical business leader, Krasimir Krustev, owner of  www.chemitrade.bg
 I will be participating in business round tables, small conferences and lecturing at The Trakia University, Stara Zagora.

 I follow the news and events this region of the world quite closely and during my prep work for this upcoming assignment I came upon an interesting report published by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation which is the number one think tank in Washington D.C. .

 The report concerns the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, covering 186 countries. The report states that they measure economic freedom based on 10 quantitative and qualitative factors, grouped into four broad categories, or pillars, of economic freedom:

 1. Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption);

 2. Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending);

 3. Regulatory Efficiencies (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom);

 4. Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom.)

 The Report defines Economic freedom as...... "Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please. In economically free societies, governments allow labor, capital and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself."


 The United States is ranked 12th behind #1 ranked Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The U.S. is the only country to have recorded a loss of economic freedom each of the past seven years. The overall U.S. score decline from 1995 to 2014 is 1.2 points, the fourth worst drop among advanced economies.

 Bulgaria is 61st freest in the 2014 Index. Its overall score is up by 0.7 points.
Bulgaria is ranked 28th out of 43 countries in the European region, and its overall score is above the world average but below the regional average. It is considered "moderately free."

There is a reason why Bulgaria is making gains while the largest economy in the world is declining.

 To see your countries ranking go to www.heritage.org/index/ranking

 As I consider what might be done to make improvements both in my country and those countries I enjoy working with I can think of many. However there are two areas which would be paramount.

 1. Elect government officials who will break the chains of corrupt and unethical practices.

 2. Remove government practices which strangle freedom of individuals and companies to succeed.

Winston Churchill said.."Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

Ronald Regan said " Government is not the answer to our problems, government IS our problem"

However, we can not always put blame on outside forces like the government, attitudes, customers, policies etc. as a way to try to explain away their inability to succeed. To many people hold  onto a "victim" mentality.

 While studying this report, I also thought of the freedom employers give (or don't give) the people who work for them. Do they create a helpful culture or do they have policies and procedures that will not allow their people freedom to be successful?

 I look forward to my ongoing discussions with my friends in Bulgaria and around the world.