I periodically (some would say over and over and over again, though occasionally made more palatable by using humor and cartoons) warn that the United States should not become a European-style welfare state. But I wonder whether I spend enough time explaining why this…
Daily Analysis
Bragging about the Debt Brake…but Failing to Explain What Makes It Successful
What happens when you mix something good with something bad? To be more specific, what happens when you have a big success story, like the spending cap in Switzerland that has dramatically slowed the growth of government, and then expect intelligent and coherent…
Statists Propose to Punish Success as Inequality Fix
Thomas Picketty has received a lot of attention for his attack on capitalism. His new book Capital in the Twenty-first Century has breathed new life into old Marxist critiques of capitalism, and been elevated to the status of very important book by the designated…
Debating How Best to Create Jobs: Markets or Government?
Early last month, I wrote an article for The Federalist on job creation. I used that opportunity to document that there is a serious problem with jobs under Obama, and I explained that the problem existed in part because the President was intervening with so-called…
Will Taxpayers Be Forced to Bail Out Union Pensions?
As a supporter of genuine capitalism, which means the right of contract and the absence of coercion, I don’t think there should be any policies that help or hinder unions. The government should simply be a neutral referee that enforces contracts and upholds the rule…
Why Did Western Nations Continue to Prosper in the 20th Century even though Fiscal Burdens Increased?
In the pre-World War I era, the fiscal burden of government was very modest in North America and Western Europe. Total government spending consumed only about 10 percent of economic output, most nations were free from theplague of the income tax, and the value-added…
Member of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers Admits White House 77 Cents Pay Gap Claim Is Bogus
President Obama and many other leftist politicians are running around the nation claiming that supposedly greedy employers are deliberately choosing to reduce their profits. They’re not actually making that specific claim, but that’s what they’re asserting, for all…
The Golden Rule of Spending Restraint
My tireless (and probably annoying) campaign to promote my Golden Rule of spending restraint is bearing fruit. The good folks at the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal allowed me to explain the fiscal and economic benefits that accrue when nations limit the…
Support the VAT…if You Oppose Entitlement Reform and Want More spending and More Debt
I’m a supporter of a single-rate tax regime, especially if there’s no double taxation of income that is saved and invested. That’s why I like the flat tax. But I’ve expressed concern about the national sales tax, even though it’s basically the same as a flat tax (the…
Is France about to Change Course?
Greetings from Obamaland! Actually, that’s wrong in two respects. First, I’m actually in France. And even though I’ve joked that Obama wants to make America like France, technical accuracy requires me to admit that my real location is Paris, where I participated…