Most sensible people already understand that countries with free markets and small government out-perform nations with big welfare states and lots of intervention.

Earlier this month, Paul Krugman wrote that, “a Heritage Foundation economist has been accused of presenting false, deliberately misleading data and analysis to the Senate Budget Committee.” Krugman was too clever to assert that the Heritage economist “did present” dishonest data, but if you read his short post, he clearly wants readers to believe that an unambiguous falsehood has been exposed.

Seems like he understands that Europe made a big mistake by having too many people in the wagon and too few people pulling the wagon.

So even an international bureaucracy now acknowledges that bureaucrats “incur substantial fiscal costs” and “have a large negative impact on private employment.”

I had some fun back in April when I noted that politicians and staff on Capitol Hill were getting very agitated about having to be part of Obamacare. Well, it seems that the way the law applies to them is so costly that many of them are thinking about calling it quits.

Once a majority of a country’s voting-age population is riding in the wagon of government dependency, it is very difficult to build political support for reform. Now I have another story that perfectly symbolizes Greece’s dysfunctional situation.

By the way, what makes the story in Virginia so pathetic is that Republicans normally get seduced into tax increases because of stupidity. As the Charlie Brown parody indicates, they get tricked into believing higher revenues will be used to lower deficits.

I’ve shared some outrageous stories about bureaucrats ripping off taxpayers. So perhaps it is time to create a Bureaucrat-of-the-Year Award to honor the parasite who best exemplifies the unofficial SEIU motto of “Better Living on the Taxpayer Teat.”

It is reported that Henry Kissinger, commenting on the Iran-Iraq war, said something to the effect that, “Too bad both sides can’t lose.” I have the same attitude about the fiscal fight in Europe. On one side, you have “austerity” proponents of higher taxes. On the other side, you have Keynesianswho think a higher burden of government spending will produce growth

Look at how much faster the economy has grown since the communists were ousted in 1975 and replaced by a pro-market government.* And the poverty rate has plummeted from 50 percent to 11 percent!

I’ve generally directed my hostility to the politicians, but the latest IRS scandal is leading me to reassess my views.

I’ve complained ad nauseam about how government has screwed up the health sector, both because of spending programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and because of tax and regulatory distortions that have mutated the supposedly private insurance market into some bizarre form of pre-paid, all-you-can-eat healthcare.

In my discussion of deficits and debt, I criticize the Congressional Budget Office for assuming that government fiscal balance is the key determinant of economic growth.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Secretary Lew wasn’t the first Democrat to utilize tax havens. Lawmakers such as John Kerry, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and others on the left also have utilized tax havens to boost their own personal finances.

My great fear is that the “social capital” of self reliance in America will slowly disappear and that the United States will turn into a European-style welfare state.

With many European nations already in the midst of a fiscal crisis caused by excessive government, and with most other industrialized nations heading down the same path thanks to aging populations and poorly designed entitlement programs, this would be a good time for supposed experts to propose ways to rein in the welfare state.

I think that some of the angst on the right is misplaced. Why blame a Reagan-era message for GOP electoral problems when all the Republicans presidential nominees in recent years have favored big government?

I’m a libertarian and the specific issue is about curtailing the foolish Drug War, it goes without saying that this is something that belongs on this blog.

Once politicians create a pile of free money, people will figure out ways of getting their hands on that money. That’s true for all programs. But because of the amounts of money involved, Medicare is a far bigger problem than other programs

I get more worried about the future of the country when I read reports of children being subjected to this kind of politically correct nonsense.