In a Tweet, Everything You Need to Know about California

I wrote last week about the ever-expanding burden of government spending in California. And that was after writing two columns last year (here and here) about the state’s economic decline. But sometimes a specific story is more compelling than broad economic trends. So here’s a tweet that caught my eye. It tells us a lot […]

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In Five Sentences, Everything You Need to Know about Bureaucracy

One thing that became very apparent during the pandemic is that government schools are mostly run for the benefit of bureaucrats rather than students. Not that any of us should have been surprised. The same is true for other government bureaucracies, as well as parts of the private sector where there is a lot of […]

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In a Tweet, Everything You Need to Know about Taxes and Incentives

A big division among economists is whether taxes have a big or small impact on incentives. If taxpayers are very responsive, that means more economic damage (to use the profession’s jargon, a greater level of deadweight loss). If you’re wondering which economists are right, there’s a lot of evidence that taxpayers are sensitive to changes […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Federal Handouts for State and Local Governments

Ideally, the federal government should be limited to the functions specified by the Founders in Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution. If we are to have any hope of getting back to that system, it may require two practical steps. If Washington is operating a program, the first step may be to replace it […]

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In One Chart, Everything You Need to Know about China

I’m obviously exaggerating when I write an “everything you need to know” column. But I use that kind of title when sharing a story that highlights some sort of fundamental truth. And one of my long-standing observations is that China’s economy is not nearly as strong as some people think. Which is why I’m sharing […]

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In a Tweet, Everything You Need to Know about Living Standards in the United States and Europe

When debating big issues such as the size and scope of government, I like to think that facts matter. Maybe I’m being naive, but people should look at evidence before deciding whether to make government bigger or smaller. And with Biden proposing a big expansion in the size of the welfare state, this is why […]

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Everything You Need to Know about the National Debt

The title of this column is an exaggeration. What we’re really going to do today is explain the main things you need to know about government debt. We’ll start with this video from Kite and Key Media, which correctly observes that entitlement programs are the main cause of red ink. I like that the video […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Bad Government in California

California is a fascinating state for people who follow public policy. It has some immense advantages, such as climate, coastline, and natural resources. But it also has high taxes, absurd regulations, a bloated bureaucracy, and a costly welfare state. The net result of all these factors is mixed. There are some sectors that are still […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Teacher Unions

Other than some clever examples of gallows humor, the only silver lining to coronavirus pandemic is that more people now understand that teacher unions are an obstacle to quality education. This video hopefully will make that lesson apparent to everyone. What a reprehensible person. Needless to say, I don’t blame Mr. Meyer for putting his […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Fixing the Budget Mess in Washington

The 21st century has been bad news for proponents of limited government. Bush was a big spender, Obama was a big spender, Trump was a big spender, and now Biden also wants to buy votes with other people’s money. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is still a simple solution to […]

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In One Image, Everything You Need to Know about Government Intervention

While I freely self-identify as a libertarian, I don’t think of myself as a philosophical ideologue. Instead, I’m someone who likes digging into data to determine the impact of government policy. And because I’ve repeatedly noticed that more government almost always leads to worse outcomes, I’ve become a practical ideologue. In other words, when looking […]

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Once Again, Everything You Need to Know about Government in a Single Story

Ronald Reagan hit the nail on the head when he warned that government is usually the problem rather than the solution. It’s not just that the economy suffers when there is too much spending, regulation, and taxing, we also have far too many politicians and bureaucrats who behave as if they’re motivated by personal interest […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Government in a Single Story

When I write an everything-you-need-to-know column, I’m inevitably guilty of hyperbole. All that I’m really doing is highlighting a very compelling example of how politicians make a mess of just about anything they touch. That’s even true in the rare cases when they’re trying to enact policies I prefer. The crux of the problem is […]

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The Indonesian Version of Everything You Need to Know about Bureaucracy and Government

I have a “Bureaucrat Hall of Fame” to acknowledge individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty. As measured by sloth and waste, of course. But maybe I also need a “Bureaucracy Hall of Fame” for examples that capture the self-serving nature of departments, bureaus and agencies. I already have several examples. In […]

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In One Picture, Everything You Need to Know about Government

Having written more than 5000 columns over the past ten-plus years, I’ve learned that policy analysis doesn’t “go viral.” But I got a small taste of what that would be like when I shared an image in 2016 showing that the right kind of class warfare pits productive people (earners, entrepreneurs, and protectors) against looters […]

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Everything You Need to Know about America’s Future Entitlement Crisis

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, particularly since you learn how “public choice” (i.e., politicians engaging in self-serving behavior) played […]

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In One Image, Everything You Need to Know about Blue State Fiscal Problems

Should high-tax states such as California and New York get a bailout? I explained last month why that would be a mistake, in large part because bailouts would reward states for irresponsible fiscal policy (similar to my argument that countries like Austria and the Netherlands shouldn’t be bullied into providing bailouts for Italy and Spain). […]

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In a Single Graph, Everything You Need to Know about Third-Party Payer

The main problem with America’s health care system is government intervention (Medicare, Medicaid, the tax code’s healthcare exclusion, etc). The main symptom of all that intervention is pervasive “third-party payer,” which is the term for a system where people buy goods and services with other people’s money. And pervasive is no exaggeration. According to government […]

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In One Chart, Everything You Need to Know about New Budget Numbers from D.C.

This week featured lots of angst-ridden headlines about the annual budget deficit for the 2019 fiscal year (which ended on September 30) jumping to $984 billion, an increase of more than $200 billion. For reasons I’ve previously outlined, I don’t lose too much sleep about the level of government borrowing. What’s far more important is […]

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In a Single Story, Everything You Need to Know about Waste and the Federal Government

What’s the most inefficient and wasteful part of the federal government? It’s impossible to answer that question without greater detail. Are we supposed to identify the worst cabinet-level department? If that’s the case, then bureaucracies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development or the Department of Education would be high on the list. […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Tax Competition in One Story

I’m a big fan of tax competition because politicians (i.e., stationary bandits) are far more likely to control their greed (i.e., keep tax burdens reasonable) if they know taxpayers have the ability to shift economic activity to lower-tax jurisdictions. For all intents and purposes, tax competition helps offset the natural tendency (caused by “public choice“) […]

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Everything You Need to Know about the Harmful Effects of FEMA and Federal Disaster Relief

With Florence about to hit, it’s time to preemptively explain how the federal government makes damage more likely and why post-hurricane efforts will make future damage more likely. There are just two principles you need to understand. When Washington subsidizes something, you get more of it, and the federal government subsidizes building – and living […]

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A Court Case that Tells You Everything You Need to Know about Government

In June 2017, I shared an image and made the bold claim that it told us everything we needed to know about government. In July 2017, I shared a story and similarly asserted that it told us everything we needed to know about government. In that grand tradition of rhetorical exaggeration, here’s a court case […]

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In One Chart, Everything You Need to Know about America’s Long-Run Fiscal Problem

I wrote yesterday about the continuing success of Switzerland’s spending cap. Before voters changed the Swiss constitution, overall expenditures were growing by an average of 4.6 percent annually. Ever since the “debt brake” took effect, though, government spending has increased by an average of just 2.1 percent. For all intents and purposes, Switzerland is getting […]

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In a Single Image, Everything You Need to Know about the New CBO Budget Numbers

The Congressional Budget Office just released its annual Economic and Budget Outlook, and almost everyone in Washington is agitated (or pretending to be agitated) about annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion starting in the 2020 fiscal year. All that red ink isn’t good news, but I’m much more concerned (and genuinely so) about this line from […]

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Everything You Need to Know about the Budget Deal in One Image

Ever since there was a deal to bust the budget caps back in February, I knew it was just a matter of time before Congress and the White House responded with an odious orgy of new spending. Some people told me I was being too pessimistic. After all, the President’s Office of Management and Budget […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Federal Spending in Five Charts

I write constantly (some would say incessantly and annoyingly) about entitlement spending. And I occasionally write about discretionary spending. It’s time to address the budget in a comprehensive fashion. Let’s look at five charts to put everything in context and to show how we got into our current mess. Our first chart (based on Table […]

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Everything You Need to Know about California, in a Single Story

When I write an everything-you-need-to-know column, it’s not because I’m under any illusions that I’ve actually amassed all the information one could need on a topic. Instead, it’s just a meme. I’m either writing an in-depth primer on an issue (for instance, spending caps or the mortgage interest deduction). Or I’ve found a story that […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Tax Reform and the Mortgage Interest Deduction

Both the House and Senate have approved reasonably good tax reform plans. Lawmakers are now in a “conference committee” to iron out the differences between the two bills so that a consensus package can be a approved and sent to the White House for the President’s signature. Sounds like we’re on the verge of getting […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Statism in One Story

One of my specialty pages deals with the unfortunate nexus between sex and government. You can find columns about taxes and sex, Obamacare and sex, and licensing and sex. My new addition to that collection involves the venal government of Venezuela. Here’s a story from the Washington Post that will forever symbolize the utter failure […]

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