by Dan Mitchell | Nov 6, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Three years ago, I shared a chart about the fiscal burden of the welfare state, calling it the picture that says a thousand word. It’s astounding, after all, that taxpayers spend so much money on means-tested programs and get such miserable results. Indeed, if we took...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 28, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Welfare and Entitlements
I periodically make comparisons of the United States and Europe that are not very flattering for our cousins across the Atlantic. Though this isn’t because of any animus toward Europe. Indeed, I always enjoy my visits. And some of America’s best (albeit eroding)...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 21, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Welfare and Entitlements
Whenever there’s a discussion of the Nordic nations, I feel conflicted. I don’t like the punitively high tax rates and socially destructive levels of redistribution in nations such as Denmark, but I also admire the very laissez-faire policies those countries have when...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 18, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Some issues never seem to get resolved. One would think, for instance, that leftists would be more cautious about pushing for a bigger welfare state given the fiscal crisis in Europe. But we have folks like Bernie Sanders openly arguing we should be more like nations...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 16, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Federal government redistribution programs don’t work. We’ve ignored the lessons of history about the dangers of government intervention, so is it any mystery that we now have millions of people mired in dependency. Yet some people in Washington want to double down on...
