The Level Of Economic Freedom In The United States Is At An All-Time LowMichael Snyder As you will see below, the U.S. government issued more than 80,000 pages of brand new rules and regulations last year on top of what we already had. Even if we didnt have all of the other monumental economic problems that we are currently facing, all of this bureaucracy alone would be enough to kill our economy. Yes, every society needs a few basic rules. We would have total chaos if we did not have any laws at all. But in general, when there is more economic freedom there tends to be more economic prosperity. In fact, the greatest period of economic growth in U.S. history was during a time when the federal government was much smaller, there was no Federal Reserve and there was no income tax. Most Americans do not know this. Those who founded this nation intended for it to be a place where freedom was maximized and government intrusion into our lives was minimized. If they were still alive today, they would be absolutely horrified. We are literally drowning in red tape. I didnt even see the small stack of paper at the top of the cabinet until I read his explanation. Most of the time everyone is so focused on what Congress is doing, but the truth is that the real oppression is happening behind the scenes as unelected federal bureaucrats pump out millions upon millions of useless regulations that are systematically killing our economic freedom. On Tuesday, an article about the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom was published by the Wall Street Journal. As I mentioned above, the United States has fallenfor seven years in a row That same article mentioned some of the reasons why the United States is falling And of course the results are predictable. Our economy has been steadily declining for many years, and that decline appears to be ready to start picking up speed once again. The following is an excerpt from a recent article by Dave in Denver What he said about the housing market is definitely true. In recent months, mortgage originations have been falling like a rock. Just check out this chart. And as I wrote about the other day, there has been absolutely no employment recovery since the end of the last recession. In fact, 1,687,000 fewer Americans have jobs today compared to exactly six years ago even though the population has grown significantly since then. Unfortunately, these are not just cyclical problems. Long ago we abandoned the fundamental principles that once made our economy great, and now we are paying a tremendous price for that. Posted below is a story that has been circulating all over the Internet for quite some time. It is a fake story. Once again, let me repeat that. This is a fake story. But I think that it does a great job of illustrating what is happening to America as we march toward full-fledged socialism But of course it would be disingenuous to pin all of the blame for this just on Obama. The truth is that our nation has continued to march toward socialism no matter who has been in the White House and no matter who has been in control of Congress. So if you want to place some of the blame on a Bush or a Clinton or a Boehner or a Pelosi please feel free. And the American people are getting sick and tired of this one party system that has two heads. According to a recent Gallup survey, only 29 percent of all Americans consider themselves to be Democrats right now. And the news was even worse for Republicans. According to that survey, only 24 percent of all Americans consider themselves to be Republicans at this point. A staggering 45 percent of all Americans now consider themselves to be Independents. Deep down, most Americans know that something is seriously wrong with our nation and that they are being lied to be our politicians and the mainstream media. Unfortunately, there is very little agreement about how to fix things because Americans do not have a set of shared values that we all agree on anymore. So what do you think? Do you believe that you know how to fix things? If so, please feel free to share your plan by posting a comment below This article first appeared here at the Economic Collapse Blog. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here. 