It’s been more than three weeks since I targeted French fiscal policy for abuse and more than one week since I wrote something negative about the French fiscal system. I must be slowing down as I get older, so it’s time of rectify this oversight. My fundamental problem with the French system is that the […]

I’ve frequently commented on Europe’s fiscal mess and argued that excessive government spending is responsible for both the sovereign debt crisis and the economic stagnation that plagues the continent. But it does seem that things have calmed down, so the readers who have submitted questions about whether the fiscal crisis has ended obviously are paying […]

Washington frustrates me. The entire town is based on legalized corruption as an unworthy elite figure out new ways of accumulating unearned wealth by skimming money from the nation’s producers. But one thing that especially irks me is the way people focus on the trees and forget about the forest. Politicians and journalists are now […]

I realize it’s wrong, but I can’t help cheering for France’s socialist president. Francois Hollande seems determined to raise every tax, expand every program, and augment every bit of red tape that afflicts the French economy. I fully expect this to end poorly, but at the risk of admitting that I’m chauvinistically concerned first and […]

I wrote yesterday that the United Kingdom is doomed because there isn’t a political party with the vision or courage to restrain the welfare state. At various points, I’ve also expressed pessimism about the future of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and even the United States. Simply stated, almost all western nations suffer from the […]

I don’t give the issue much attention on this blog, but I’m very interested in Social Security reform. I wrote my dissertation on Australia’s very successful system of personal retirement accounts, for instance, and I narrated this video on Social Security reform in the United States. So I was very interested to see that the […]

The mess in Europe has been rather frustrating, largely because almost everybody is on the wrong side. Some folks say they want “austerity,” but that’s largely a code word for higher taxes. They’re fighting against the people who say they want “growth,” but that’s generally a code word for more Keynesian spending. So you can […]