by Dan Mitchell | Dec 18, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
The United States faces a huge long-run fiscal problem because government is growing too fast. Entitlement programs are the main problem. For example, a rising burden of Social Security spending means that outlays will exceed revenues by $65.8...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 16, 2025 | Blogs, Economics, Welfare and Entitlements
In Part I of this series, I explained that modern welfare states are in deep trouble because of falling birth rates. The core of the problem is that entitlement programs generally tax young people to subsidize old people. And fewer babies today means fewer workers...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 15, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
I’m not a fan of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Paris-based bureaucracy is dominated by Europe’s left-leaning welfare states, so it unsurprisingly has a statist policy agenda (especially on fiscal...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 1, 2025 | Blogs, Taxation
Congratulations to Switzerland, the “improbable success” that is home to the world’s most sensible voters. The left put a referendum on the ballot to impose a national death tax and the people of Switzerland overwhelmingly voted...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 28, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
I often get asked when the United States will suffer a Greek-style fiscal crisis. My answer is always “I don’t know,” though I freely admit we are heading in that direction. My lack of specificity isn’t merely because economists are lousy...
