Tag Archives: welfare state
How the Welfare State Erodes Social Capital, as Illustrated by a Chuck Asay Cartoon
I’m a big fan of Chuck Asay’s political cartoons. My favorite is his nothing-left-to-steal masterpiece. And his tractor cartoon and his regime-uncertainty cartoon are brilliant indictments of Obamanomics. Here’s another classic…. Read more
The Fuse Is Burning Brightly on France’s Fiscal Time Bomb
It’s been more than three weeks since I targeted French fiscal policy for abuse and more than one week since I wrote something negative about the French fiscal system. I… Read more
Another Horrifying and Depressing Look at the Human Cost of the Welfare State
When we think of Julia, the mythical moocher created by the Obama campaign, our first instinct is probably to grab our wallets and purses. After all, she symbolizes the entitlement… Read more
A Real-Life Example of How Government Handouts Create Life-Sapping Dependency
Remember Julia, the mythical moocher created by the Obama campaign to show the joys of government dependency? As illustrated by this Ramirez cartoon, Julia symbolizes the entitlement mentality. Unfortunately, there… Read more
Thanks to the Welfare Hammock, Here’s another Horror Story about Deadbeats Sponging Off British Taxpayers
Here are some odious details from the UK-based Sun. Danny Creamer, 21, and Gina Allan, 18, spend each day watching their 47in flatscreen TV and smoking 40 cigarettes between them… Read more
Obama’s Vision of a Nation of Takers
If you don’t want to be depressed, you should stop reading right now. You probably know that we’ve been suffering because of a rising burden of government spending. And you… Read more
Head Start: Another Costly Government Failure
What’s more realistic: A unicorn, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or a successful government program? This isn’t a trick question. Even though I’ve presented both theoretical and empirical arguments against… Read more
Do You Live in a “Death Spiral” State?
Three years ago, I put together a “Moocher Index” that measured the degree to which non-poor people in a state were benefiting from redistribution programs. As you can see if… Read more
How the Welfare State Traps the Poor in Dependency, the British Version
Back in 2011, I linked to a simple chart that illustrated how handouts and subsidies create very high implicit marginal tax rates for low-income people and explained how “generosity” from… Read more
An Honest Liberal Confronts the Problem of Government Dependency
I’ve written and pontificated about the problem of government-created dependency and how the welfare state traps people in poverty. I also shared this dramatic chart showing how redistribution programs create… Read more