by Dan Mitchell | Sep 25, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Social Security is projected to consume an ever-larger share of America’s national income, mostly thanks to an aging population. Indeed, demographic change is why the program is bankrupt, with an inflation-adjusted cash-flow deficit of more than $42 trillion. Yet...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 23, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
When “basic income” became an issue a few years ago, I was instinctively opposed because I don’t want Uncle Sam sending big checks to everyone in the country. But I admitted that there were a few reasonable arguments for the idea. Most notably, plans for a basic...
by Dan Mitchell | May 28, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
I periodically explain that a European-sized welfare state can only be financed by huge taxes on lower-income and middle-class taxpayers. Simply stated, there aren’t enough rich people to prop up big government. Moreover, at the risk of mixing my animal metaphors,...
by Dan Mitchell | May 8, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
I’m a big fan of many of the economic reforms that have been implemented in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three of the Baltic nations rank highly according to Economic Freedom of the World. Estonia and Lithuania are tied for #13, and Latvia isn’t far behind at...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 25, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Free Market, Socialism, Welfare and Entitlements
I’ve repeatedly dealt with the argument over Denmark’s supposed socialism. My core argument is that Denmark is very bad on fiscal policy, but very laissez-faire on other issues such as regulation. The net effect is that Danes have about the same amount of economic...
