The 10 most economically-free countries in the world
Free markets and private properties are much talked about. But the phrase economic freedom definitely gives rise to policy debates. This is a list of the top 10 countries based on the ‘2013 Index of Economic Freedom’ by The Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Wall Street Journal.
The index measured economic freedom based on four broad categories: Rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency and open markets.
India is ranked at 119 with an overall score of 55.2 for its economic freedom.
1 Hong Kong 89.3 -0.6
2 Singapore 88.0 0.5
3 Australia 82.6 -0.5
4 New Zealand 81.4 -0.7
5 Switzerland 81.0 -0.1
6 Canada 79.4 -0.5
7 Chile 79.0 0.7
8 Mauritius 76.9 -0.1
9 Denmark 76.1 -0.1
10 United States 76.0 -0.3
Seniors: Top Row (left to right) Chris Solis, Justin Ok, Chris Turnbull, Nick Simon
Bottom Row (left to right) Jay Kerwin, Mike Cunningham, Tyler Chatfield (https://www.ridgewoodbasketball.net/)
RHS Basketball looks to put together a hot streak
Friday, January 11, 2013
BY ELI NACHMANY
CORRESPONDENT
The Ridgewood News
RIDGEWOOD — An attacking, offensive-minded team is rare in today’s day of conservative high school basketball schemes.
The Ridgewood High School boys team has put together quite an impressive group of scorers and can truly light up the board.
For most offensively gifted squads, the mindset is that it’s fine to be below average defensively as long as the shots are falling. In Ridgewood, no such concept exists.
While the team has shot the ball at an efficient clip for the entire season, it’s been their defensive efforts that have impressed head coach Mike Troy.
“Defensively, we’re a far better team than I thought we would be at this point,” he said. “Our ability to play man-to-man is ahead of where I thought it’d be.”
‘Severe’ Strain Of Flu Reaches Epidemic Proportions In New York City Number Of Cases N.Y. State-Wide Nearly 5 Times Higher Than Last Year
January 10, 2013 11:25 PM
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — The flu is currently at epidemic levels across the five boroughs, New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley announced Thursday.
Officials said a full 5 percent of emergency room visits are flu-related.
“It’s a bad year. We’ve got lots of flu, it’s mainly type AH3N2, which tends to be a little more severe. So we’re seeing plenty of cases of flu and plenty of people sick with flu,” Farley told reporters including WCBS 880′s Rich Lamb.
To protect against contracting the flu, Farley urged people to wash their hands and cover their mouths when they cough. And he said the flu shot can still help protect against getting sick.
“Our message for any people who are listening to this is it’s still not too late to get your flu shot. If you haven’t gotten the flu yet and you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, you could still get it,” Farley said.
The Valley Hospital Welcomes Howard “Hal” Jones, M.D. to its Staff as a Specialist in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery
January 8, 2013
Ridgewood NJ, Howard “Hal” Jones, M.D., has joined The Valley Hospital’s staff of surgeons specializing in minimally invasive procedures. A specialist in Laparoscopic Gynecologic Surgery, Dr. Jones is certified in the da Vinci Surgical System and recently completed a prestigious Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Since completing his medical training at St. George’s University School of Medicine and his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Jones has participated in numerous research projects focusing on minimally invasive laparoscopic techniques and is currently a reviewer for The Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery. He is certified by the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL) and has attained a fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery (FMIG).
In addition to general gynecology, Dr. Jones focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of abnormal bleeding, fibroids, hormone dysregulation, endometriosis, and pelvic pain. Specializing in the latest, most effective techniques, Dr. Jones performs traditional and novel minimally invasive procedures such as single incision laparoscopy, conscious pain mapping, hysteroscopy (for diagnosis and treatment of fibroids, polyps, or bleeding), incisionless hysteroscopic sterilization, robotic myomectomy, robotic and laparoscopic hysterectomy, and the removal of deep infiltrating endometriosis. “The da Vinci System gives us the ability to diagnose and treat complex pelvic conditions in a far less invasive way,” notes Dr. Jones. “Consequently patients tend to experience less trauma, shorter recovery time, and better outcomes.”
Dr. Jones comes from a long line of notable pioneers in the field of gynecology. “My grandparents were co-founders of the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School,” he explains. “They established the nation’s first IVF clinic and continued to push the frontiers in assisted reproductive medicine for many years.”
For more information about minimally invasive gynecological procedures performed at The Valley Hospital, please call Dr. Jones’ office at 201-327-8765.
For years, the Elites of the West have cranked up the myth of Man Made Global Warming as a means first and foremost to control the lives and behaviors of their populations. Knowing full well that their produce in China and sell in the West model and its consiquent spiral downward in wages and thus standards of living, was unsustainable, the elites moved to use this new “science” to guilt trip and scare monger their populations into smaller and more conservatives forms of living. In other words, they coasted them into the poverty that the greed and treason of those said same elites was already creating in their native lands
What better way to staunch protests at worsening economic and life conditions than to make it feel like an honourable job/duty of the people to save “Gia”. At the same time, they used this “science” as a new pagan religion to further push out the Christianity they hate and despise and most of all, fear? Gia worship, the earth “mother”, has been pushed in popular culture oozing out of the West for a better part of the past 1.5 decades. This is a religion replete with an army of priests, called Government Grant Scientists.
Various groups have fought back. This is including Russian hackers, who published a huge database of UK government, scientific and university emails depicting the fixing of data to sell Global Warming, er Climate Change (as if it never changed on its own). And while taking hit after hit, the beast, like Al Quida, will not die. As a matter of fact, the beast is on a steady come back, as it is quite useful during the down times recession. The US alone spends $7 billion each year on warming “studies”, which is, in truth, nothing but a huge money laundering operation, as no real science is conducted and vapid alarmist reports the only product generated.
Amongst the newest claims of pending disasters, is a cry that icepacks are now melting at three times the rate of the 1990s, even though there has not been any significant warming in the past 20 years. Greenland’s icepack melt off, has been linked to volcanic activity under the ice, heating it. Must be the magmamen and their SUVs. These facts, however, do not faze the Gia crowd and their Elite/Governmental backers. The fact that a super storm hit the NE US is also being played as evidence of GW. Thank God that before GW no such things ever happened. How are they to explain that Russia and Eastern Europe are projected to have the coldest winter in 20 years? Oh, but I doubt my Western readers are even aware of that.
Now, with their economies in a spiral of debt laden, non-manufacturing recession (if not out and out depression), the Elites, who sense they are loosing their grip or toe hold on key economic regions outside their home regions, are once again calling out their inquisitors of Global Warming and sending them towards the developing world.
The first salvo has been fired by a British Warming dandy named Lord Nicholas Stern of Brentford, who as an academic at Whitehall, has made a career and quite a bit of money off of this scam. Lord Stern, a former World Bank chief economist and author of the landmark Stern review of the economics of climate change, was a close associate of Gordon Brown and the Leftists, who with the Tory counterparts and in parallel to the American Democrats/Republicans set up the grand and self destructive economic schemes that have plunged their own nations and many many others into the abyss of poverty.
The good Lord Stern, in commentary on why countries such as Russia, China, India and Brazil, in other words, the BRICs, have to pony up cash and depress their own growth, made this statement for the Guardian paper: “It’s a brutal arithmetic – the changing structure of the world’s economy has been dramatic. That is something developing countries will have to face up to,”
His premiss is that even if you take out the deindustrialized West, run away Global Warming will not stop due to the industrialized world. Its now all the fault of those raising themselves up for the destruction of the world, from the phantom joke of GW. Lord Stern tried to assure that the opening salvo was not a salvo, by stating: “I am not pointing the finger at the developing world, just looking at what is necessary. I am not accusing or proposing, just calculating what is needed [to meet scientific estimates of the emissions cuts needed to avoid dangerous levels of climate change]”. More like a calculated accusation. After all, this is not some light weight of the GIA cult, but the movement’s chief economist who enjoyed the ear of the UK government: a perfect tool of the Western Elites.
Expect the cries to get louder and more shrill in the months to follow.
Helping Victims from Hurricane Sandy: Proceeds go to American Red Cross
Thursday, January 10 from 5-8 p.m. in the RHS Cafeteria
Tickets $5 (pre-sale raffle incentive) are now on sale.
Donations from AM Rotary, Stop & Shop, Daily Treat
For more information contact Nancy Reilly or Lynne Feeney at RHS: [email protected], [email protected]
31st Annual Ridgewood/Glen Rock Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Program
The 31st annual Ridgewood/Glen Rock observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day will be held on Monday, January 21, 2013, at the Ridgewood United Methodist Church, 100 Dayton St., Ridgewood, NJ. The event is free and open to the public, and this year’s theme is, “Forward in Unity.” Sponsored by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee of Ridgewood/Glen Rock, the celebration begins at 10:00 a.m. with an interfaith service featuring The Rev. Dr. Gareth Icenogle of the West Side Presbyterian Church. There will be readings by Ridgewood and Glen Rock students and musical performances by the Indian Hills Chamber Choir and Men of Umoja Chorus, followed by an outdoor rally in Van Neste Square.
Instead of the traditional community lunch following the march, a Fellowship Coffee Hour will be held at the church with a televised broadcast of the Presidential Inauguration for those who wish to stay. Rev. Dr. Icenogle has been West Side’s Senior Pastor since February, 2009. He holds degrees in ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, and music degrees from the University of California, Riverside, and California State University of Los Angeles. His master’s degrees are in music (voice and composition) and divinity, and his doctorate is in ministry, with a focus on spiritual formation and discipleship. He is the author of an internationally used textbook on the theology, purposes, and dynamics of faith formation through small groups. Rev. Dr. Icenogle served as Senior Pastor at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, from 2004 to 2008, and as Senior Pastor and Co-Senior Pastor for 14 years at the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem, PA. He was also the Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Seminary.
The annual Ridgewood/Glen Rock Martin Luther King Jr. celebration began in 1983 in an effort to unite area residents, regardless of faith or ethnic background, in worship and action as they work towards peace and justice for all. More than 20 religious groups, the Ridgewood and Glen Rock Boards of Education, local government, and civic organizations participate in and support the event each year. Financial support is generously provided by many organizations, individuals, agencies, and businesses throughout the area. For more information contact Alice Newton at 201-951-9903.
“A Fall Night Event”
Mon, January 14, 2013
Time: 7:00 PM
Indian Trail Club, 830 Franklin Lakes Road, Franklin Lakes, NJ
West Bergen Mental Healthcare is pleased to announce that the Fall Night of Fine Dining, postponed because of Hurricane Sandy, has been rescheduled for Monday evening, January 14th, at the Indian Trail Club in Franklin Lakes.
The event, which highlight the area’s finest restaurants and caterers, is a fundraiser to benefit West Bergen’s programs and services. This year West Bergen is honoring Chuck Russo of Carlo Russo’s Wine & Spirit World in Ho-Ho-Kus for his many years of generous support to West Bergen. Please visit www.afallnight.com
ALBANY — The state’s Health Department found in an analysis it prepared early last year that the much-debated drilling technology known as hydrofracking could be conducted safely in New York, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times from an expert who did not believe it should be kept secret. N.Y. Times
A NEW YEAR MESSAGE FROM BERGEN COUNTY EXECUTIVE KATHLEEN A. DONOVAN
A New year is upon us.
We are leaving behind a year that had so many tough hurdles-the ongoing recession, Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath particularly for our neighbors in Moonachie and Little Ferry, and the horrible tragedy at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut.
A new year will bring more hurdles for us to overcome, new courses to navigate — but more importantly, 2013 will bring new opportunities for us to succeed as individuals, communities and a nation.
Let’s embrace the year to come and invest in hope for a better world for all of us.
As the turning pages of the calendar proves, time is fleeting; let’s use it wisely: spend time with the people you love and take time to help those in need.
Let’s not put off until tomorrow, what we should do today. And when we come to turn the last page on the calendar 12 months from now, let’s hope we can point to a year filled with fewer regrets and more accomplishments.
I wish you and your family all a very Happy, Safe and Healthy New Year.
Tax Hikes to Start the New Year
Amy Payne
January 1, 2013 at 9:09 am
While you were sleeping—or ringing in 2013—the Senate voted to raise taxes.
After missing the midnight deadline, Congress and the President have technically sent the nation over the fiscal cliff, meaning higher tax rates are already in effect for all income tax brackets. But the Senate’s deal, brokered by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) and Vice President Joe Biden, would target the tax increases on those making more than $250,000.
The Senate voted 89-8 to limit deductions for taxpayers making more than $250,000, which would raise their taxes, and to hike tax rates for those making more than $400,000.
As Heritage has pointed out, trying to tax the top income brackets to close the deficit is impossible. To overcome the massive federal deficit, top earners would have to be taxed at more than 100 percent. And J.D. Foster, Heritage’s Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy, reminds us that President Obama has already raised taxes on “the wealthy”:
Never mind that Obama already raised taxes on upper-income taxpayers through the 3.8 percent Medicare surtax imposed under Obamacare. Never mind that tax rate hikes would weaken an economy stumbling so badly the Federal Reserve doubled its risky efforts to keep the economy from recession. Never mind Obama’s approach would likely put the kibosh on any hopes for tax reform. Never mind the resulting revenues would be a small drop in a very big bucket compared to projected budget deficits. Never mind that the only justification for higher taxes is spite and envy to be exercised through the extortive power of the federal government.
Some of the key points in the Senate deal, which could go to the House as early as today:
Raises taxes on incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for households
Raises taxes on investment income for those taxpayers as well
Limits tax deductions for incomes over $250,000—raising their taxes, too
Increases the death tax rate for estates over $5 million
Extends long-term unemployment benefits for one year
Postpones sequestration’s automatic spending cuts (including those to defense) by two months
Meanwhile, the United States also ran up against the debt ceiling yesterday. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said the Treasury would do some short-term creative accounting to make sure the country doesn’t default on its loans, which will buy two months before lawmakers have to fight it out again over increasing the debt limit.
The deal does nothing to address the reasons that the U.S. budget is out of control. Its focus on tax hikes rather than spending cuts is completely the opposite of what the country needs. As Heritage’s Romina Boccia explains:
Federal spending on entitlements and interest on the debt drives the federal budget crisis. Together the three major entitlements of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (including Obamacare), as well as net interest, make up more than half of all spending in the federal budget today. Their share of the budget will grow to over two-thirds of all spending in 10 years. By 2025, the major entitlement programs and net interest together will eat up all tax revenues collected in that year.
Hiking taxes simply isn’t a solution. Until Congress and the President pursue serious spending cuts, the country and the budget will keep chugging in the same direction. And that’s certainly no cause for celebration.
2013: the first year of the rest of my life
by Paulo Coelho on December 31, 2012
No one can go back, but everyone can go forward.
And tomorrow, when the sun rises, all you have to say to yourselves is:
I am going to think of this day as the first day of my life.
I will look on the members of my family with surprise and amazement, glad to discover that they are by my side, silently sharing tha little understood thing called love.
I will pass a beggar, who will ask me for money.
I might give it to him or I might walk past thinking that he will only spend it on drink, and as I do, I will hear his insults and know that it is simply his way of communicating with me.
I will pass someone trying to destroy a bridge.
I might try to stop him or I might realise that he is doing it because he has no one waiting for him on the other side and this is his way of trying to fend off his own loneliness.
Instead of noting down things I’m unlikely to forget, I will write a poem.
Even if I have never written one before and even if I never do so again, I will at least know that I once had the courage to put my feelings into words.
I will keep smiling, because it pleases me to know that people think I am mad. My smile is my way of saying: ‘You can destroy my body, but not my soul.’
On January 1, regardless of the outcome of fiscal cliff negotiations, Americans will be hit with a $1 trillion Obamacare tax hike.
Obamacare contains twenty new or higher taxes. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1. In total, for the years 2013-2022, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The five major Obamacare taxes taking effect on January are as follows:
The Obamacare Medical Device Tax: Medical device manufacturers employ 409,000 people in 12,000 plants across the country. Obamacare imposes a new 2.3 percent excise tax on gross sales – even if the company does not earn a profit in a given year. In addition to killing small business jobs and impacting research and development budgets, this will increase the cost of your health care – making everything from pacemakers to artificial hips more expensive.
The Obamacare Flex Account Tax: The 30-35 million Americans who use a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) at work to pay for their family’s basic medical needs will face a new government cap of $2500. This will squeeze $13 billion of tax money from Americans over the ten years. (Currently, the accounts are unlimited under federal law, though employers are allowed to set a cap.)
There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are several million families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. This Obamacare tax provision will limit the options available to these families.
The Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income: This is a new, 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income:
Capital Gains Dividends Other*
2012 15% 15% 35%
2013+ (current law) 23.8% 43.4% 43.4%
The table above also incorporates the scheduled hike in the capital gains rate from 15 to 20 percent, and the scheduled hike in dividends rate from 15 to 39.6 percent.
The Obamacare “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deductions: Currently, those Americans facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). This tax increase imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. By limiting this deduction, Obamacare widens the net of taxable income for the sickest Americans. This tax provision will most harm near retirees and those with modest incomes but high medical bills.
The Obamacare Medicare Payroll Tax Hike: The Medicare payroll tax is currently 2.9 percent on all wages and self-employment profits. Under this tax hike, wages and profits exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 in the case of married couples) will face a 3.8 percent rate instead. This is a direct marginal income tax hike on small business owners, who are liable for self-employment tax in most cases. The table below compares current law vs. the Obamacare Medicare Payroll Tax Hike:
First $200,000 ($250,000 Married) Employer/Employee stays the same
All Remaining Wages Employer/Employee
Current Law 1.45%/1.45% 2.9% self-employed
Obamacare Tax Hike 1.45%/2.35% 3.8% self-employed
Read more: https://atr.org/trillion-obamacare-tax-hike-hitting-jan-a7393#ixzz2GQyer3N0
Follow us: @taxreformer on Twitter
“Marcia the Musical Moose” Holiday Children’s Show at Ridgewood Village Hall
December 27,2012
Boyd A. Loving
10:15 AM
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Parks and Recreation Department invited Marcia the Musical Moose to entertain preschool and early elementary children during the holiday recess, Thursday, December 27th, 11 a.m. The show was held in the Anne Zusy Youth Center, 131 North Maple Avenue.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving
In a nutshell (as Marcia’s friend Sally the Squirrel puts it), this variety show was filled with audience participation and included music, sing-a-longs, silly magic, and puppets.
2011 Uniform Crime Report : Ridgewood shows drop crime rate
December 27,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, According to the 2011 Uniform Crime Report which was released last Friday by the state Attorney General’s office, the Village of Ridgewood reported a total of 193 crimes in 2011, nearly 30 fewer incidents over the previous year.
While violent crimes in Ridgewood increased from seven in 2010 to eight in 2011 and the total number of non-violent offenses decreased to 185. There was an increase in motor vehicle thefts for 2011,with 5 stolen vehicles reported ,that compares with zero for 2010.
Larcenies accounted for 78 percent of all non-violent crimes in Ridgewood,dropping by 21 to 144 in 2011 and 36 burglaries were reported in Ridgewood during 2011, that’s down from 50 in the previous year. Ridgewood also reported 2 arsons,
Ridgewood’s overall crime rate per 1,000 residents came in at 7.7. down form the previous year’s study of 8.9. In comparison with municipalities with similar size populations, but not similar demographics Ridgewood’s crime rate is lower than Lyndhurst (18.1), Lodi (16.7), Rutherford (15.7), Englewood (14.6) and Cliffside Park (9.3)., but its higher than some of our surrounding neighbors who have various populations but more similar demographics like Glen Rock (6.1), Midland Park (7.7), Township of Washington (5.5), Westwood (7.0) and Wyckoff (7.7).
While the state of New Jersey saw and uptick of 3% in crime in 2011 ,both Ridgewood and Bergen county saw decreases .
The annual report is based on statistics filed with the New Jersey Uniform Crime Reporting System by all state law enforcement agencies.
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