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 | Aug 12, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
In Part I of this series, I groused that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are both very irresponsible about Social Security. Instead of proposing good reforms (or even bad reforms!), they want to kick the can down the road and pretend the problem doesn’t exist. Even...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 21, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
I periodically explain why and how to fix entitlements. Here’s my latest attempt, as part of a conversation with David McIntosh of the Club for Growth. A few months ago, I shared some alarming CBO data about the ever-growing burden...
by Robert O'Quinn | Sep 8, 2023 | CF&P Foundation Prosperitas Studies, Publications
[PDF Version] Federal Spending Primer, Part III: The Spending Problem is an Entitlement Problem By Robert P. O’Quinn* Part I of this series explained that there are different types of spending while Part II noted that the overall burden of federal spending...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 21, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Copying some self-styled national conservatives, Donald Trump this week endorsed major tax increases on lower-income and middle-class Americans. But he embraced huge tax increases in an indirect fashion. He did not say “let’s adopt money-siphoning value-added taxes”...