We're No. 25: US slips again in annual global economic freedom index 'amid mounting deficit and debt burdens'

The United States has slipped to 25th place globally for economic freedom amid excessive government spending and a mounting debt crisis, according to The Heritage Foundation.

The report made special note of the declining position of the U.S., which slipped to 25th place globally because of what researchers described as the country's runaway government spending amid "mounting deficit and debt burdens." "The major causative factor in the erosion of America’s economic freedom is excessive government spending." Jon Brown is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to jon.brown@fox.com.

"This really should be a wake-up call if you're looking at the United States," Joel Griffith, a research fellow in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for economic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. "We've been doing this report now since the 1990s, and based on our metrics, this is the lowest the United States has ever ranked in the index as far as the total score."

"Especially notable is the continuing decline within the ‘mostly free’ category of the United States, whose score plummeted to 70.6, its lowest level ever in the 29-year history of the Index," researchers wrote. "The U.S. is now the world’s 25th-freest economy. The major causative factor in the erosion of America’s economic freedom is excessive government spending, which has resulted in mounting deficit and debt burdens."