Obamanomics will never work in the real world. Here’s what will: Estonia’s Free-Market Principles Prevailing

Estonia is a country of some 17,000 square miles and 1.3 million people. It’s located just south of Finland on the Baltic Sea, bordered by Russia and Latvia. In typical socialist fashion, after World War II the USSR pretty much devastated Estonia’s economy.
 
Twenty years ago the weakening of the Soviet Union, and the yearning of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) for freedom, finally culminated in Estonia’s independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter Mart Laar, only 32 at the time, became prime minister. And Mr. Laar just happened to have read Milton Friedman’s great book on free market economics, “Free to Choose” –
 

He says, “It sounded good to me so we went ahead and did it.”
Under Mr. Laar’s leadership, they did not diddle with reform, they went at it on all fronts full speed ahead — “shock therapy.” They re-established the rule of law, property rights, and were serious about getting rid of corruption. They opened themselves to trade and privatized most of the economy. Also, they instituted a flat tax, which was quickly copied by many other countries, including Russia. (Russia? Whoa!)

 
And now…

Estonia is one of the most economically free countries in the world and it is easy to do business there. It has the lowest debt/GDP ratio in Europe and has maintained fiscally sound policies, unlike most countries, including the United States.

 

Although Estonia’s economy suffered along with every other countries’ in the world-wide slump –
 

The good news is Estonia is now back on a growth path and, unlike the U.S., Estonia is still following free-market principles and the expectation is it will soon recover its lost ground.
 
It is a tribute to Mart Laar that during his two terms as prime minister (1992 to 1994, and 1999 to 2002) and in the years since, despite different parties controlling the government, the basic economic policies and freedoms that he had a major role in designing and implementing are still in place.

 
How ironic (and maddening, frustrating and depressing!). At the very time we were discarding the economic policies and principles that made America great, Estonia was picking them up and running with them.
 
And now we can clearly see which approach works – so long as prosperity and freedom are what you’re really striving for…