Everything You Need to Know About America’s Decaying Fiscal Status

There was a lot of wasteful spending during the pandemic. That was bad news, but what’s far more worrisome is that politicians used the pandemic as an excuse to permanently increase the spending trendline. Here’s a chart based on CBO’s historical data and future projections. I added a yellow line to show the trend line […]

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Everything You Need to Know about the Value-Added Tax

While in Sweden last week, I wrote several columns (here, here, and here) about that nation’s fiscal policy. But I also had a discussion about American fiscal policy with one of the tax experts at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. That included a discussion of the value-added tax (VAT). If you don’t want to spend […]

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In One Image, Everything You Need to Know about the Washington-Created Welfare State (Part II)

As part of my everything-you-need-to-know series, I shared an incomprehensible flowchart showing the ridiculous maze of federal welfare programs back in 2015. Today, let’s look at another visual that captures what’s wrong with the Washington welfare state. As you can see, taxpayers are footing the bill for a system that spends more than twice what […]

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In One Story, Everything You Need to Know About Washington Waste and Incompetence

The burden of government is expanding because of Joe Biden’s three most-notable legislative “accomplishments.” The misnamed Inflation Reduction Act. Big subsidies for the high-tech sector. An infrastructure boondoggle scheme. Today, let’s focus on the third item so we can remind ourselves that government is inefficient and incompetent. And we’ll focus specifically on Biden’s push for […]

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In One Image, Everything You Need to Know about California’s Fiscal Troubles

Two days ago, I shared some California humor. Today, we’re going to look at some California tragedy. I’ve often explained that the most important variable in fiscal policy is the the growth of government, More specifically, good fiscal policy occurs when the burden of government spending over time grows slower than the private sector. As […]

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In One Image, Everything You Need to Know about Supply-Side Economics

When trying to educate someone about the importance of low marginal tax rates, what’s the most-convincing visual? A supply-and-demand graph? A philoso-raptor meme? A cartoon with two doors? A Dan Mitchell hypothetical? I’m partial to the image I created, of course, but let’s look at a real-world example that is very compelling. In an article […]

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Everything You Need to Know about the Difference Between Free Enterprise and Socialism

I’ve written critical columns about the failure of Venezuelan socialism and I’ve written laudatory columns about the success of Chile’s free markets reforms. Today, let’s compare and contrast what has happened to these two countries. Here are two maps of South America showing per-capita economic output. Amazingly, Venezuela was more than twice as rich as […]

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Everything You Need to Know about San Francisco, in a Single Story

What’s the worst-governed city in the United States? Chicago? New York City? San Francisco? Minneapolis? Seattle? Detroit? According to researchers, the answer is none-of-the-above. The right answer is either Riverside, CA or Oakland, CA. But that doesn’t mean the other cities aren’t doing their best to become the worst. Today, let’s take a look at […]

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Everything You Need to Know about British Government, in a Single Tweet

Yesterday’s column looked at featherbedding in the Washington bureaucracy. Lots of overpaid middle managers and more boxes on the federal flowchart. Basically, the real-world version of this satirical meme. Today, let’s look at mindless incompetence by a foreign government. Or perhaps deliberate incompetence would be a better term. That’s because bureaucrats in the United Kingdom […]

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Everything You Need to Know about Bureaucracy, in a Single Tweet

My “everything you need to know” columns have a common theme of highlighting stark examples to make broader points. China’s economic policies are misguided The USA is out-performing Europe People respond to tax incentives California has remarkably bad governance Teacher unions deserve scorn and abuse Today, we have a tweet that tells us everything we […]

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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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