It’s time to add to our collection of horror stories from the U.K.’s government-run healthcare system (previous examples can be found here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, and here). What makes today’s story different, though, is that the bureaucracy not only is denying care to a small child, but also seeking to prevent the family from seeking treatment elsewhere. Check out these excerpts […]

The polling data I shared last month about confused young people was a bit of a downer, so let’s look at three different polls that are a bit more encouraging. First, I’m glad to see that many Americans feel that government and politicians are their leading cause of daily stress. Here’s some of what the Washington Post reported on this […]

Since I’m an economist, I generally support competition. But it’s time to admit that competition isn’t always a good idea. Particularly when international bureaucracies compete to see which one can promote the most-destructive pro-tax policies. For instance, I noted early last year that the bureaucrats at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were pushing a […]

When government suppresses the free market and takes over the healthcare sector, you get some really odd results. Consider these stories from Sweden:  A man sewing up his own leg after getting frustrated with a long wait. The government denying a wheelchair to a double amputee because the bureaucrats decided his impairment might not be permanent. Speaking of amputations, […]

I’ve written many times about America’s looming fiscal collapse, and I’ve also pontificated about America’s costly and failed welfare state. I even have speculated about when America reaches a tipping point, with too many people riding in the wagon of government dependency (as illustrated bythese famous cartoons, which even have a Danish equivalent). If you read all my posts on these issues, I […]

When the new Tory-led government came to power in the United Kingdom, I was rather unimpressed. David Cameron positioned himself as a British version of George W. Bush, full of “compassionate conservative” ideas to expand the burden of government. But even worse than Bush, because Cameron also jacked up taxes when he first took office, including big […]

The title of this post sounds like the beginning of a strange joke, but it’s actually because we’re covering three issues today. Our first topic is corporate taxation. More specifically, we’re looking at a nation that seems to be learning that it’s foolish the have a punitive corporate tax system. By way of background, the […]

It’s not often that I agree with the Washington Post, but a government-run monopoly is not the best way to get mail delivered. Moreover, it’s not often that I agree with the timid (andsometimes reprehensible) Tory-led government in the United Kingdom, but they just put the Royal Mail into the private sector. And that’s something deserving of loud applause. Here’s […]

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 government and statist intervention and you think that the […]

Why do statists support higher tax rates? The most obvious answer is greed. In other words, leftists want more tax money since they personally benefit when there’s a larger burden of government spending. And the greed can take many forms. They may want bigger government because they’re welfare recipients getting handouts. They may want bigger government because […]