The Babyproofed Society: The Urge to Eliminate Risk From American Life
The trial balloon of banning gas stoves is just another example “Babyproofed Society,” of the progressive quest to eliminate risk from American society.
Tagged: welfare
Study: Testing The Welfare Magnet Hypothesis
Do generous welfare programs attract immigrants? A study from Denmark.
Democratic Presidential Candidates: To Whom Should We Extend Your Compassion?
As newly-minted, likely Democratic-primary voter visiting China, I have a question that has not been addressed in the debates: How much am I supposed to care about others?
Supply and Demand: Swedish Government Workers Edition
Our Swedish friends, inhabitants of the fifth largest country in Europe representing more than 10 million people, have a bit of a problem on their hands if projections turn out to be true. The Swedish Government is not overly worried…yet.
Have Millennials Really Been Screwed Over by Baby Boomers?
In the wake of Brexit, many Millennials blamed Baby Boomers for ruining their futures. Is the same true in the U.S.?
The Unconditional Basic Income and the Hayekian Price System
Sam Bowman of the UK’s Adam Smith Institute writes what he calls “a neoliberal case for a basic income.” Despite his loathing for the term neoliberal, Jason Kuznicki embraces this case and builds upon it, with reference to Levy and Hayek.
Education is Important, but not in the Fight Against Inequality
David Leonhardt is confused about inequality, at least according to his shallow dive into Thomas Picketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
Nihil Novi Sub Sole
An unemployed California surfer buys lobster with his SNAP card — wait, where have I heard this before?
A Terrible Starting Point
From today’s Boston Herald (via memeorandum): The Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance — a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to Section...
I am Dependent on the Government…
… for road and park maintenance; schools for my children; police, fire, and military protection; licensing of motor vehicle operators and other public safety measures; enforcement of contracts and the peaceful equality mediated by...
Charity and Stigma
I think that there should be a mild, limited, almost unspoken social stigma against able-bodied adult charity recipients. Usually there is, but often it comes with a lot of needless baggage. First, it should...
The Ultimate Victory, The Final Defeat
Corey Robin was interviewed by David Johnson for the Boston Review, and at the very end the two of them got to talking about the GOP primary. At first, Robin repeated an argument I’ve heard...
The Retroactive Table of Contents : February 24 – March 2
Headline of the Week: My Year With Guns When he was eight years old Tod Kelly fired his first loaded gun and got a black eye, fired his first empty gun and felt...
What Is Welfare For?
Writing over at The New Inquiry, Ned Resnikoff asks the Left to think a little more concretely about what it means to fetishize, as most have during the Great Recession, jobs qua jobs. Using...
Riots, left and right
The critique of the riots and neoliberalism that Elias links to below reminds me quite a bit of Theodore Dalyrmple’s piece in City Journal, and this piece in The Australian. Perhaps individualism cannot really...
Redistribution and the State
I’ve written recently about what I termed ‘front-end’ redistribution. That is, redistribution of wealth and resources prior to state redistribution – or, the way it should be in a perfect world. One example of...
Ayn Rand, welfare queen
I have to confess: I’ve never read Ayn Rand. Not once. But I still think this is pretty amusing.
Schilling on Social Security
Mike Schilling asks: By the way, wouldn’t privatized Social Security [be] the same sort of unconstitutional mandate as health insurance is? If by “privatized Social Security” we mean “forced individual transfers, not to the...
A Ghost on Aspen Street
I was out drinking beers with a friend last night, sitting on the patio of a local brewery in the cold April air and waxing poetic about the many pleasures of living in a...
