by Dan Mitchell | Aug 21, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
I’ve been accused of making supposedly inconsistent arguments against Hillary Clinton. Make up your mind, these critics say. Is she corrupt or is she a doctrinaire leftist? I always respond with the simple observation that she’s both. Not that this should come as a...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 26, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
The Social Security Administration has released the 2016 Trustees Report, which shines a spotlight on the overall fiscal condition of the program. In previous years (2012, 2013, 2014), I’ve used this opportunity to play Paul Revere. But instead of warning that the...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 13, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending
Changing demographics is one of the most powerful arguments for genuine entitlement reform. When programs such as Social Security and Medicare (and equivalent systems in other nations) were first created, there were lots of young people and comparatively few old...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 17, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
Maybe future events will require a reassessment, but right now the biggest danger to the western world isn’t terrorism. Nor is it climate change. Or Zika. Or even Donald Trump. The real threat is demographic change. America’s population profile already has changed,...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 20, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Laffer Curve, Welfare and Entitlements
The welfare state is bad news. It’s bad for taxpayers and it’s bad for recipients. It’s also bad for the economy since prosperity is in part a function of the quantity of labor that is productively employed. As such, government programs that lure people into...
