by Dan Mitchell | Aug 29, 2017 | Uncategorized
Most people understand that there’s a Social Security crisis, but they only know half the story. The part of the crisis they grasp is that the program is basically bankrupt, though I doubt many of them realize that the long-run shortfall is a staggering $44 trillion....
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 8, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
According to leftists like Bernie Sanders, European nations have wonderfully generous welfare states financed by high tax rates on the rich. They’re partly right. There are very large welfare states in Europe (though I wouldn’t use “wonderfully” and “generous” to...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 18, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs
Since it is the single-largest government program, not only in the United States but also the entire world, it’s remarkable that Social Security isn’t getting much attention from fiscal policy wonks. Sure, Obamacare is a more newsworthy issue because of the...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 13, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs
I will occasionally pontificate about a demographic crisis in the developed world, but I usually feel guilty afterward. After all, how can it be a bad thing that we’re living longer? And what gives me the right to grouse about the number of children other families...
by Dan Mitchell | May 30, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Welfare and Entitlements
In a recent interview on the new Trump budget, I hit on some of my usual topics such as growth, real-world fiscal numbers, tax reform, fake budget cuts, entitlement reform, and my Golden Rule. But I want to call attention to the part of the discussion that started a...