Back in 2010, I shared a video that predicted a catastrophic end to the welfare state. I said it was an example of “Libertarian Porn” because: …it is designed for the dark enjoyment of people who think the government is destroying the nation. If you don’t like bloated…
Daily Analysis
Denmark’s Party Boat and the Ever-Expanding Welfare State
My all-time most-viewed blog post wasn’t the parable about beer and the tax system. Nor was it the joke about California, Texas, and the Coyote. Those won the silver and bronze trophies. The gold medal belongs to the two pictures that explain how the welfare…
Big Government and Tipping Points: Is America Is Doomed to Become a Failed European-Style Welfare State?
When I give speeches around the country, I often get asked whether it’s time to give up. More specifically, has America reached a tipping point, with too many people riding in the wagon of government dependency and too few people creating wealth and pulling the wagon…
Obamacare Liberating Americans From Productivity
It takes a special skill – or an abundance of chutzpah – to harm a person and then turn around and argue that it was all for their own good. But that’s exactly what the Obama administration, and the sycophants at the New York Times, are doing in…
MyRAs Are the Wrong Way of Helping Ordinary People Save Money
As part of his State-of-the-Union speech, President Obama announced he was going to unilaterally create a new retirement savings account that supposedly would be available to all workers. Employers would be mandated to facilitate these”MyRA” accounts, and the money…
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Which Nation Has Increased Welfare Spending the Fastest of All?
There’s an old joke about two guys camping in the woods, when suddenly they see a hungry bear charging over a hill in their direction. One of the guys starts lacing up his sneakers and his friend says, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear.” The other guys…
The War on Poverty Has Been a Disaster for Taxpayers…and for Poor People
I’ve shared many charts over the years, but two of the most compelling ones deal with poverty. The numbers in this chart, which are based on Census Bureau data and scholarly studies (see here, here, here, and here), show that the poverty rate was steadily…
Instead of a Government-Guaranteed Income, How About a Practical Plan to End the Washington Welfare State?
The welfare state is a nightmare. Programs such as Medicaid are fiscal catastrophes. The food stamp program is riddled with waste. The EITC is easily defrauded, even sending checks to prisoners. And housing subsidies are a recipe for the worst forms of social…
Economic Growth Is the Best Way to Help the Poor, not Redistribution in Pursuit of Coerced Income Equality
Switzerland’s left-wing party has instigated a referendum for November 24 that asks voters to limit pay ranges so that a company wouldn’t be able to pay top employees more than 12 times what they’re paying their lowest-level employees. I talked with Neil Cavuto about…
The Rise (and Upcoming Fall) of the Welfare State in the Western World
I routinely (some would say repetitively) argue that the burden of government spending is a drag on the economy because labor and capital are being misallocated via the political process. My message is that we need to reduce the size of the public sector, even if we…