Adam Smith, the Scot philosopher and author of “The Wealth of Nations,” is not so well-known for having said that “people of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” Were he with us today, Smith might well add a corollary: Whenever politicians and bureaucrats gather for any reason, their conversation also invariably results in a “conspiracy” against taxpayers and consumers for more government regulation and taxes. This reality is illustrated in the 2010 edition of the Index of Economic Freedom compiled and published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. This is the 16th year Heritage and the Journal have jointly produced the index.

The most distressing news from the latest index is the fact that the United States fell from its perennial rank as one of the world’s freest economies to “Mostly Free.” The United States trails Canada, Switzerland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, which topped the rankings for the 16th consecutive year. Although still among the top 10, the United States just barely edged out Denmark (ninth) and Chile (10th) in the 2010 ranking. The U.S. position likely would be even worse, but for the fact that the index ranking is based on data collected for the period between July 2008 and June 2009, thus excluding much of the heavy increases in Washington’s bailout spending and regulation in response to the economic meltdown of September 2008 and the recession that followed.