Like an eager kid who desperately wants to be included in his cooler older brother’s activities, America looks to the European Union for cues on sophisticated governance. But what happens when that cooler older brother is middle-aged, unemployed, and still living in your parents’ basement? This is America’s dilemma. Will America learn from Europe’s mistakes? Or, will America continue to be enamored with the European Union, despite its failed policies and unsound philosophical grounding? Practical problems of governance abound in the EU. Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France all agree: multiculturalism …
Our newest video highlights a recent paper on welfare reform by Heritage’s Robert Rector and Kiki Bradley. In the video and this new report, we reveal some startling statistics: Welfare spending is climbing faster than spending for education, defense, and even Social Security and Medicare. After adjusting for inflation, welfare spending is 13 times higher today than in 1965, when the War on Poverty started The average out-of-wedlock birthrate is 40%, while African-American populations see a rate of 72%. In 1965, the average was 7%. Under President Obama, welfare spending …
Recently in the Wall Street Journal, David Ranson pointed out what tax economists have known for a long time: no matter what changes Congress makes to the existing tax code, it will continue to raise the same amount of revenue as a percentage of GDP year-after-year. Ranson writes: Despite big changes in marginal tax rates in both directions,”Hauser’s Law,” as I call this formula, reveals a kind of capacity ceiling for federal tax receipts at about 19% of GDP. The income tax is the predominant revenue raiser for the federal …
From Heritage Senior Research Fellow Robert Rector’s latest analysis of Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan: The recently passed U.S. House of Representatives stimulus bill contains $816 billion in new spending and tax cuts. Of this sum, $264 billion (32 percent) is new means-tested welfare spending. This represents about $6,700 in new welfare spending for every poor person in the U.S. But this welfare spending is only the tip of the iceberg. The bill sets in motion another $523 billion in new welfare spending that is hidden by budgetary gimmicks. If …
We’ve heard a lot lately about “redistribution of wealth.” What would the American Founders think? Property rights provide the foundation of prosperity. As Americans, we’re accustomed to a revolutionary guarantee that we may labor, earn wages and acquire property — and rest assured that what we earn and acquire will be secure. It’s a simple promise that survives despite the income tax system: Americans get to keep what we earn. The right to enjoy the rewards of your labor is a powerful incentive to work hard and pursue opportunity — …
