by Dan Mitchell | Apr 26, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
Congratulations to Belgium. According to the new edition of Taxing Wages, average Belgian workers have the dubious honor of surrendering the biggest chunk of their income to government. No wonder part of the country is interested in secession. We can also give...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 25, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
I’m conflicted. I’ve repeatedly expressed skepticism about the idea of governments providing a “basic income” because I fear the work ethic will (further) erode if people automatically receive a substantial chunk of money. Moreover, I also fear that a basic income...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 24, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
A few years ago, John Stossel did an undercover investigation of a government job-training program and he found that the operation was basically a scam. Not that we should be surprised. Back in 2014, I explained to a C-Span audience that a healthy private sector was...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 14, 2018 | Blogs, Economics
When trying to convince someone about the downsides of socialism, I generally make a practical argument. I point out that socialism has universally failed, whether looking at totalitarian versions in places such as North Korea and Cuba or democratic versions in places...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 12, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
I periodically share data comparing the United States and Europe, usually because I want to convince people that America’s medium-sized welfare state is better (less worse) than Europe’s bloated welfare states. In other words, Bernie Sanders is wrong. But I sometimes...