Back in 2010, I declared that Olga Stefou was a symbol of everything that’s wrong with the Greek welfare state. She was one of the protesters and – if the story captured her thoughts accurately – she displayed an unlimited entitlement mentality. Sort of helps one…
Daily Analysis
Measuring the Federal Government’s Spending Problem
I’ve complained endlessly that America’s fiscal problem is too much spending, and that deficits and debt are best understood as symptoms of that underlying disease. So I’m obviously a big fan of this new video from the folks at Learn Liberty. I like how they use…
Switzerland’s “Debt Brake” Is a Role Model for Spending Control and Fiscal Restraint
I’ve argued, ad nauseam, that the single most important goal of fiscal policy is (or should be) to make sure the private sector grows faster than the government. This “golden rule” is the best way of enabling growth and avoiding fiscal crises, and I’ve cited nations…
The “Penny Plan” to Trim Government Spending and Reduce the Burden of the Public Sector
Even though I favor radical reductions in the burden of government, I’ve made the point that good fiscal policy merely requires that government spending grow slower than the private sector – what I call Mitchell’s Golden Rule. And if lawmakers simply cap the growth of…
Miracles Do Happen: Someone in Brussels Accurately Analyzes Europe’s Fiscal Crisis!
With the exception of a few top-notch thinkers such as Pierre Bessard and Allister Heath, there are very few people in Europe who can intelligently analyze public policy, particularly with regard to fiscal issues. I don’t know if Fredrik Erixon of the Brussels-based…
Notwithstanding the “Grand Bargain” Siren Song, there’s No Practical Argument for Tax Hikes
Many people think that my opposition to tax increases is ideological, but they’re wrong. If someone told me that I magically had the power to flick a switch and give the country a flat tax, but that simple and fair tax system would only be possible if the rate was set…
President Obama Accuses Bill Clinton of “Thinly Veiled Social Darwinism”
Actually, Bill Clinton must be something even worse than a social Darwinist. That’s because the title of this post is wrong. Obama said that Paul Ryan’s plan (which allows spending to grow by an average of 3.1 percent per year over the next decade) is a form of…
A Case Study of How Government Handouts Undermine Human Decency and Social Capital
Why is big government bad for an economy? The easy answer is that big government usually means high tax rates, and this penalizes work, saving, investment, and entrepreneurship. And perhaps some of the spending is financed by borrowing, and this diverts money from…
Revolt of the Irish Tax Slaves
I wrote last year about a backlash from long-suffering Greek taxpayers. These people – the ones pulling the wagon rather than riding in the wagon – are being raped and pillaged by a political class that is trying to protect the greedy interest groups that benefit from…
Should America Copy Europe, as Obama Believes?
Last year, I shared a very amusing Michael Ramirez cartoon showing Obama as the European lemming. Now, Mark Helprin takes a much more serious look at the same issue in the Wall Street Journal, commenting on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of Obama’s interest in the…