Eben Macdonald

Social democrats love to denounce low-tax, probusiness regimes as "neoliberal" and as places with more poverty. But the reality is that parts of Europe that embraced markets most reduced poverty while making their citizens richer. 

Have you ever noticed that it's only the wealthy Nordic countries that are singled out as being "socialist"? Places like Greece and Italy, which are more socialistic than Scandinavia, never seem to warrant a mention on this topic. 

The empirical evidence shows that neither minimum wages or welfare reduce poverty. In fact, minimum wages tend to increase the cost of living while poverty rates have gone nowhere since the Great Society was introduced.