In One Image, Everything You Need to Know about the Washington-Created Welfare State

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 6, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements

Three years ago, I shared a chart about the fiscal burden of the welfare state, calling it the picture that says a thousand word. It’s astounding, after all, that taxpayers spend so much money on means-tested programs and get such miserable results. Indeed, if we took...

Instead of Fighting to Protect Taxpayers, Politicians Are Enabling Medicare Fraud

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 5, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste

Yesterday, I shared several stories that exposed the festering corruption of Washington. Today, let’s look at one issue that symbolizes the pervasive waste of Washington. Medicare is the federal government’s one-size-fits-all health program for the elderly. Because of...

Hillary Clinton, Big Government, and Washington Corruption

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 4, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs

I’ve explained, over and over and over again, that big government is the mother’s milk of corruption. Simply stated, a convoluted tax code, bloated budget, and regulatory morass create endless opportunities for well-connected insiders to obtain unearned and undeserved...

The Left’s Dream Is a Value-Added Tax on the Middle Class, so Why Are Advocates of Small Government Helping to Advance that Awful Levy?

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 3, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, VAT

Some honest statists understand and acknowledge that you can’t have bigger government unless you target middle-income taxpayers. The New York Times endorsed higher taxes on the middle class in 2010. The then-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also gave a green light...

Comparing the United States and Nordic Nations: Is American “Inequality” Bad if It Simply Means Some People Get Richer Faster than other People Get Richer?

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 2, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics

I’ve already commented several times on the good and bad features of the Nordic Model, largely to correct the false narrative being advanced by Bernie Sanders (though I was writing on this issue well before the Vermont Senator decided to run for Chief Commissar...