Social Security has never involved legally-binding contracts between the government and those who allegedly “pay in.” Nevertheless, the government has long pretended that there is a contract, except when it gets in the way of raising taxes to keep the program afloat.
No amount of fantasizing can make fundamental economic realities go away, no matter how much we put our faith in central banks, government regulation, or technologies of the future.
It wasn't long ago that the pundits were talking about Venezuela's "economic miracle" which had proved all the anti-socialist naysayers wrong. But with soaring unemployment, inflation, and deficits, the Venezuelan people are unfortunately having to pay for years of ignoring economic reality.
It was a big week for Bernie Sanders's brand of socialism, and millions of Americans already agree with him. Thanks to unquestioning acceptance of wild claims about the success of socialism in Europe, many Americans are now wishing for some European-style socialism themselves.
Because conservatives are only nominally less statist than today’s progressives, socialist policies that would have sounded outrageous to many Americans 100 years ago are now the baseline for the modern American political mind. Bernie Sanders is capitalizing on this reality.
In his new book By the People, Charles Murray claims that government has become tyrannical, and therefore people ought to disobey bad laws. But only some laws, Murray explains. Tax laws are just swell, as is the foreign-policy status quo.
International trade grasped headlines with Monday’s announcement that twelve governments have agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. While we should expect to see this celebrated in the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, it is unfortunate even libertarian organizations are praising the agreement.
Everywhere we look, governments are trying to enhance and extend their own power. So why are so many of those same governments eager to sign on to "free trade" agreements. It's because such agreements have nothing to do with free trade.
Whether its drug prices, crushing debt, or unemployment, government can always come up with someone else to blame. Fortunately though, in spite of the lackluster economy the Fed and the government seem committed to giving us, there's hope for a much better future.
