Policy Digest: Welfare State Edition

  • The S&P recently came out with a report on how inequality is allegedly dampening economic growth. Some smart replies here and here.

  • If you’re following the debate over Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, don’t miss this analysis from the Tax Foundation or this article from Don Boudreaux.
  • Dierdre McCloskey explains why she doesn’t care about economic inequality.

  • Debt Deniers such as Paul Krugman tell us there’s no reason to try to rein in entitlement spending now. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget looks at the costs of delay for Social Security. “[M]aintaining solvency over 75 years by increasing payroll tax rates would require a 2.83 percent immediate payroll tax increase. Waiting ten years would raise that rate increase to 3.5 percent (for a 15.9 percent total rate), and waiting until 2033 would raise the rate increase to 4.3 percent (for a 16.7 percent rate). Delaying the rate increase also effectively exempts those close to retirement and puts more of the burden on younger workers.”

  • This is too obscene to comment on, but incredibly revealing of the mentality behind the economic inequality campaign: “The case for a maximum wage.”