Thursday, July 02, 2009

Another poor ranking for Ohio

Mercatus has a new ranking out on freedom by state.

"This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres."

Ohio ranked 38th out of 50, and ended up in the top 10 worst states for personal freedoms. From the report:

Ohio
Ohio (#32 economic, #46 personal, #38 overall) has much to improve. Adjusted government spending is over a standard deviation higher than average. Ohio is higher than average in every spending category except transportation. Gun control laws are relatively poor, though not in a class with Illinois, New Jersey, and others. Marijuana laws are liberal overall, but cultivation and sale sentencing could be reformed. Most gambling is illegal. Private and home school regulations are unreasonable, including teacher licensure and mandatory state approval of home
school curricula. Asset forfeiture rules are appropriate. Eminent domain reform has not gone nearly far enough. Draconian smoking bans are in place.

2 comments:

gordon gekko said...

We're poised to improve.

Sincerely,

Governor Ted

Timothy W Higgins said...

Maggie,

I heard earlier today that Ohio has ranked 10th in its level of obesity. While no expert in the area of obesity (but a willing participant), I can't help but wonder if the two are related.

It is said that when someone is depressed, they tend to eat. Perhaps being depressed about the level of freedom available to us in Ohio, we have turned to comfort foods in the hopes of feeling better about our lot in life as Ohioans.

... just something to ponder over a long weekend.

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