In my speeches, especially when talking about the fiscal crisis in Europe (or the future fiscal crisis in America), I often warn that the welfare state reaches a point-of-no-return when the number of people riding in the wagon begins to outnumber the number of people pulling the wagon.
To be more specific, if more than 50 percent of the population is dependent on government (employed in the bureaucracy, living off welfare, receiving pensions, etc), it becomes rather difficult to form a coalition to fix the mess. This may explain why Greek politicians have resisted significant reforms, even though the nation faces a fiscal death spiral.
But you don’t need me to explain this relationship. One of our Cato interns, Silvia Morandotti, used her artistic skills to create two images (click pictures for better resolution) that show what a welfare state looks like when it first begins and what it eventually becomes.
These images are remarkably accurate. The welfare state starts with small programs targeted at a handful of genuinely needy people. But as politicians figure out the electoral benefits of expanding programs and people figure out the that they can let others work on their behalf, the ratio of producers to consumers begins to worsen.
Eventually, even though the moochers and looters should realize that it is not in their interest to over-burden the people pulling the wagon, the entire system breaks down.
Then things get really interesting. Small nations such as Greece can rely on permanent bailouts from bigger countries and the IMF, but sooner or later, as larger nations begin to go bankrupt, that approach won’t be feasible.
I often conclude my speeches by joking with the audience that it’s time to stock up on canned goods, bottled water, and ammo. Many people, I’m finding, don’t think that line very funny.
Hehe, brilliant.
* (President Grover) Cleveland (Democrat, 1895-1889 and 1893-1897) vigorously pursued a policy barring special favors to any economic group. Vetoing a bill to appropriate $10,000 to distribute seed grain among drought-stricken farmers in Texas, he wrote:
“Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character. . . . ”
(source – http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/grovercleveland24)
My, how times have changed!
Far be it for me to advocate for tax increases, but if those who do not pay taxes — due to overly generous welfare provisions and because of special waivers due to crony capitalism — are made to pay them through tax reforms, is there any possibility that now, as members of the wagon pullers, they will acquire a different perspective on the welfare state? Or am I being hopelessly naïve?
I remember one point from The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform for Comprehensive Tax Reform:
Apart from the part about ‘tax expenditures’ — which is often used to describe not the spoils of crony capitalism but legitimate tax cuts (such as those on dividends, capital gains, inheritance duties, &c.) — isn’t there some merit in this recommendation?
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.”
Thomas Jefferson – 3rd President of the United States
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
Thomas Jefferson – 3rd President of the United States
What novel ideas. . .We should try them at some point!
[...] / Govt. The Debt Ceiling and the Warfare State by Justin Raimondo Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State Taxation Is Still Robbery RealClearPolitics – The Truth About the Auto Bailouts Kids Prefer [...]
[...] How predictable, I thought. This is what happens when vote-hungry politicians adopt policies that reward people for riding in the wagon and punish the folks who are pulling the wagon. [...]
[...] How predictable, I thought. This is what happens when vote-hungry politicians adopt policies that reward people for riding in the wagon and punish the folks who are pulling the wagon. [...]
Make the welfare people accountable. Drug testing. If you have a baby fine, but any other children should not be covered.
[...] Soon To America It doesn't end well. Rise and Fall of the Welfare State "In my speeches, especially when talking about the fiscal crisis in Europe (or the future [...]
Actually, how the welfare state ends is when the wagon pullers walk off, giving those in the wagon the finger…. Thankfully, our current dependent class is anti-gun, for the most part.
[...] Detroit is a miserable case study of big government run amok. Predictable when vote-hungry politicians adopt policies that reward people for riding in the wagon and punish the folks who are pulling the wagon. [...]
[...] periodically commented about the dangers of a nation reaching a tipping point, which occurs when the people riding in the wagon outnumber those pulling the wagon. But even though dependency has jumped in America, the national spirit of self-reliance, [...]
[...] periodically commented about the dangers of a nation reaching a tipping point, which occurs when the people riding in the wagon outnumber those pulling the wagon. But even though dependency has jumped in America, the national spirit of self-reliance, [...]
[...] if the budget doesn’t immediately increase) will increase the number of entities that have an incentive to lobby to preserve the program and/or make it bigger. Second, this development is part of the effort to de-stigmatize food stamps, thus making the [...]
[...] increase) will increase the number of entities that have an incentive to lobby to preserve the program and/or make it bigger. second, this development is part of the effort [...]
[...] moochers such as Olga Stefou, who think taxpayers should endlessly subsidize everything, and the shrinking group of productive people who are pulling the wagon and keeping Greece’s economy from total [...]
[...] moochers such as Olga Stefou, who think taxpayers should endlessly subsidize everything, and the shrinking group of productive people who are pulling the wagon and keeping Greece’s economy from total [...]
there is a famous cartoon drawn in communist China where it shows a stuck wagon and a party leader approaching the wagon as if to help push it, but its noted that he does not push it….thus it was allowed by the censors but was social commentary…the party leaders say they want to help but don’t actually do so…that would be a great addition to this.
[...] I’ve posted several times about the dangers of creating too much government dependency, including a set of cartoons that illustrates how small welfare states inevitably erode social capital and create…. [...]
[...] And the cherry on the ice cream sundae of Europe’s fiscal nightmare is that many people have been lulled into dependency thanks to excessive government handouts combined with a political culture that tells people there is nothing wrong with mooching off others (as this cartoon aptly illustrates). [...]
[...] at the skyrocketing number of people riding in the wagon of government dependency (and look at these cartoons to understand why this is so [...]
[...] Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State [...]
[...] at the skyrocketing number of people riding in the wagon of government dependency (and look at these cartoons to understand why this is so [...]
[...] Dan Mitchell Billets Similaires: La fable de l’État-providence…_L’asservissement de [...]
[...] Showing the beginning and end of the welfare state. Tell your friends!FacebookMoreStumbleUponDiggEmailRedditTwitterLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in The Blogs. Bookmark the permalink. ← Just what the West needs : Another invasion of the Middle East [...]
[...] Interesting cartoons..http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/two-pictures-that-perfectly-capture-the-rise-and-fal… [...]
[...] wonder if he watched this video on the debilitating impact of welfare or looked at these cartoons about the welfare state. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]
[...] elite finally realized that the welfare state was the wrong model? Had they finally realized, as demonstrated by these cartoons, that it was foolish to bribe more and more people to ride in the wagon while raping and pillaging [...]
[...] when the number of people mooching off government exceeds the number of people producing. Indeed, Miss Morandotti drew these two cartoons showing how the welfare state inevitably leads to fiscal [...]
The fantasy on stocking up on food and ammo is that one would be able to defend oneself from the starving unruly hoards that beset the industrious like in Raspail’s Camp of the Saints. The reality that isn’t imagined is what happened in the Weimar Republic and in China, where the centralized power committees and politicians send out the police and military toseize land, houses, commodities, and precious metals or items of trade for more redistribution.
Hiiding and waiting out the collapse won’t work. Neither will planning to try to defend against the Seizers. Nor will waiting for the last minute (the classic American approach) to get involved and then turn it around. .
[...] when the number of people mooching off government exceeds the number of people producing. Indeed, Miss Morandotti drew these two cartoons showing how the welfare state inevitably leads to fiscal [...]
[...] (Source.) [...]
[...] when the number of people mooching off government exceeds the number of people producing. Indeed, Miss Morandotti drew these two cartoons showing how the welfare state inevitably leads to fiscal [...]
[...] These images and links capture the situation perfectly: Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State. [...]
[...] [...]
[...] Not surprisingly, Europe’s craven political class is refusing to reduce the burden of government, perhaps because many nations have reached the dangerous tipping point where the number of people riding in the wagon is greater than the number of…. [...]
[...] against social breakdown. If politicians destroy the economic system with too much debt and too much dependency, firearms will be the first and last line of defense against those who would plunder and [...]
[...] He also highlights the danger of creating a society where a majority of people are moochers instead of producers. [...]
I beg to differ. The fellow on the wagon in the endgame panel isn’t holding a megaphone. He’s holding a whip. With barbs. There may be some shill with the megaphone. There will also be a band. And it won’t be one wagon. It will be a train of wagons.
[...] against social breakdown. If politicians destroy the economic system with too much debt and too much dependency, firearms will be the first and last line of defense against those who would plunder and [...]
[...] Unfortunately, I don’t expect the crowd in Washington to change. Most politicians don’t think more than a couple of years into the future, so they will continue to lure more people into riding in the wagon and continue to penalize those who pull the wagon. [...]
So the people on the wagon are the bankers, corporations, CEOs, and Wall Street execs that we gave trillions to in tax cuts, subsidies, and other millionaire/billionaire welfare, right? They’re the bankers that took billions from the tax payers so that they wouldn’t be broke and jobless after they bet with customer money and toppled the economy, right? They’re the people that we didn’t jail, and instead gave money to, when they committed mortgage fraud, right?
[...] posted some polling data a couple of weeks ago that showed how the dependency mindset (as captured by these cartoons) is far worse in Europe than it is in the United [...]
[...] Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State [...]
[...] posted some polling data a couple of weeks ago that showed how the dependency mindset (as captured by these cartoons) is far worse in Europe than it is in the United [...]
[...] Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State [...]
[...] I probably like it because it is sort of similar to the riding-the-wagon-pulling-the-wagon cartoon drawn by a former Cato [...]
[...] Silvia Morandott, een Italiaanse studente, heeft perfect samengevat waarom we nu in een schuldencrisis zitten. Vroeger zorgde de overheid slechts voor de ouderen en mensen die arbeidsongeschikt raakten. Nu is de lijst van mensen die op een of andere manier geld krijgt van de overheid zo uitgebreid dat de tweede afbeelding dit goed samenvat. [...]
[...] with the editorializing that was added above this cartoon. I’ve always been partial to the welfare-dependency-wagon cartoons produced by a former Cato [...]
[...] Two Pictures that Perfectly Capture the Rise and Fall of the Welfare State [...]
[...] But they’re both part of the same crowd if you divide society into those riding in the wagon and those pulling the wagon – as this cartoon aptly demonstrates. [...]
[...] managed to combine the ills of third-party payer, government dependency, fiscal profligacy, and irresponsible monetary policy in one [...]
[...] managed to combine the ills of third-party payer, government dependency, fiscal profligacy, and irresponsible monetary policy in one [...]