Everything good about Nordic nations was already in place before the era of big government.

All law-abiding people should have the human right to protect themselves.

By the standards of any normal and rational person, the US system is producing better outcomes.

Best that can be said about the Nordic welfare state is that the damage is somewhat contained by cultural norms.

They’re shifting back toward free markets.

Denmark may have a big welfare state and a punitive tax system, but it is very pro-market in other policy areas.

It’s very hard to be optimistic about Denmark given what this chart shows.

I’ve already shared a bunch of data and evidence on the importance of low tax rates. A review of the academic evidence by the Tax Foundation found overwhelming support for the notion that lower tax rates are good for growth. An economist from Cornell found lower tax rates boost GDP. Other economists found lower tax rates boost job creation, savings, […]

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 state begins and how it ends. Those images make a very serious point that […]

We’re making a tiny bit of progress in the battle against the welfare state. No, policy hasn’t changed yet, but at least there’s growing recognition that maybe, just maybe, it’s not a good idea to pay people not to work. Particularly when you trap them in lives of dependency and despair and undermine progress in […]