Singapore is a city state. A joke economy. City states can get by on all kinds of shit. Lichtenstein, for instance, finances virtually its entire economy by protecting affluent tax cheats. This is clearly not a scalable model (or even, as the tax cheats in question will hopefully learn to their regret, necessarily a sustainable one).

Better luck with your next example.

And if you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to summarise what criteria Freedom House use when assigning scores for political and economic freedom. And what do they measure those criteria against? The laws on the books? The reality on the ground? Something in between?

Oh, and if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear the reason why Freedom House's ranking of political freedom doesn't seem to match Amnesty International's?

Specifically, try comparing the reports on Colombia and Venezuela. Compare and contrast your results with Freedom House's rankings.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.