by Dan Mitchell | Oct 22, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
In 2018, I shared a visual that I referred to as the western world’s “most depressing chart.” It showed how the welfare state exploded in size after World War II and is now an enormous fiscal burden. This has been bad news for taxpayers, of course, but...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 25, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
Hong Kong used to be a role model for good economic policy, but China’s crackdown has had a negative effect, so Singapore is now considered the jurisdiction with the most economic freedom. But I also like to cite Taiwan, which is a top-20...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 3, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
I routinely explain that entitlement programs are a ticking time bomb, and I castigate politicians who want to kick the can down the road (or make a bad situation even worse). This is a global problem, not merely an American problem. In...
by Dan Mitchell | May 13, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
Here are five grim – but uncontestable – facts about America’s dicey fiscal future. The federal government’s budget is very large today and is expected to get much larger in the future. Entitlement programs are the primary reason why federal spending is an...
by Dan Mitchell | May 9, 2025 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Welfare and Entitlements
I’m currently in Finland for meetings with various people and I learned that the country’s bloated public sector and expensive welfare state are imposing a very heavy cost on the economy. How heavy of a cost? According to IMF data, there’s...
