by Dan Mitchell | Nov 12, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
I’m a voracious consumer of publications that rank economic liberty and national competitiveness. Simply stated, these apples-to-apples rankings tell us which countries have policies that are friendly to growth (and thus the places that will enjoy rising living...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 14, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Bernie Sanders was considered a hard-core leftist because his platform was based on higher taxes and higher spending. Elizabeth Warren also was considered a hard-core leftist because she advocated a similar agenda of higher taxes and higher spending. And Joe Biden,...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 23, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
There are many reasons to be depressed about Italy. Bad policy is part of the problem, of course, but this chart shows that the country also is facing a demographic crisis. The blue lines show that there are now more deaths than births. The chart comes from...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 1, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
Before our depressing discussion today about the fiscal impact of entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, EITC, Food Stamps, welfare, and Obamacare, etc), here’s a video of how it all began. I think this is a great introduction to the issue,...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 4, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Back in 2016, I shared an image that showed how the welfare state punishes both the poor and rich. Rich people are hurt for the obvious reason. They get hit with the highest statutory tax rates, and also bear the brunt of the double taxation (the extra layers of tax...
