Just how much freedom do we have at our leisure within our nation’s economy? According to this this annual report by the Heritage Foundation we are not as free as we used to be.

America now ranks 12th in the world, based on her quality of freedom within the following four categories: Rule of Law, Limited Government, Regulatory Efficiency, and Open Markets. There are multiple sub-categories as well, and, unsurprisingly, America’s quality scores have recently declined over the past year in Property Rights, Business Freedom, and Fiscal Freedom.

America has long qualified as one of the “free economies” within Heritage’s Rankings; however, since meeting that criteria in 2006, its economic freedom score has declined by nearly 6 points. Moreover, it is the only nation to have lost these points each of the past seven years.

There are several other notable facts listed under each category’s summary, not the least of these being the fact that America’s total public debt is a little greater than her total GDP.

Who’s Number 1, you may ask? Honk Kong. Maybe Westernization’s not such a bad thing after all, huh…