Welfare

Just as an individual needs a reality-oriented form of psychotherapy, a nation or a culture needs a reality-based set of solutions to get out of any mess it finds itself in. Consider a bit of history. General William T. Sherman turned the tide of the Civil War, by his...

Of all the new faces in the new House of Representatives, the only one — so far — to not speak the Republican dialect of “Washingtonspeak” is Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin. Ryan has been in Congress for a decade, but he’s about to become a lot...

Let’s sort out some things. As a political and economic system, socialism is government ownership and management of the means of production and distribution of goods, the control of money, and the abolition of profit and private property. These ideas also...

Members of Congress will soon return home for August recess. While there, many will express outrage over the 33 percent increase in government spending since 2001, and the $400 billion budget deficit. They will offer vague pledges to rein in government. Taxpayers have...

Get ready for the interest groups and beneficiaries to squeal, scream, cry and ultimately demean. The issue? Why, President George W. Bush’s “lean” 2006 budget. Americans want their welfare state. The president’s budget, excluding defense,...

Would-be defenders of individual rights and liberty, the fundamental ideas of the founding fathers who created the United States of America, have recently decided to pay homage to the Presidents who created the modern American welfare state. I refer of course to...

An old television special featured great boxing matches of the past, including a video of a match between legendary light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore and a young Canadian fighter named Yvonne Durrell, in which each man was knocked down four times during the...

The 1996 welfare reforms comprised the boldest social policy reform over the last 60 years. Millions of people moved off the government dole and achieved self-sufficiency. Unfortunately, those reforms excluded a rather large segment of society that still considers...

In addition to offering sanctuary to the world’s tax-burdened, tax havens provide an indirect benefit to the tax-payers who remain pinned under welfare state tax burdens: they cause tax rates and tax burdens in those welfare states to be lower than they might be...

The welfare state enjoyed a stellar week. First, the Victims Compensation Fund, set up by Congress, announced compensation averaging $1.85 million for the families of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While deducting life insurance and some pension benefits, the payout...

Dear President Bush, “What can we do to help win the war against terrorism?” Americans all across the country eagerly ask. In response, you insist that we “go about our daily lives,” but with a heightened sense of awareness. To live in fear,...

If you were an ailing foreigner in need of sanctuary and free medical treatment, it’s obvious where you would turn: America. Where could Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind with bad kidneys and a shrinking bank account, be hiding? Well, if you were an...

In the spring of 1994, the last full year of welfare as we knew it, 112,000 Massachusetts families were on the dole. In the spring of 2001, the caseload stands at 41,500 — a reduction of 63 percent. So spectacular has the success of welfare reform been that it...

Did Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill commit a “gaffe” of epic proportions? Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich certainly thinks so. In an interview with Financial Times, O’Neill said, “Able-bodied adults should save enough on a...