Classic Commentaries
Victor C. Bolles
Originally Published June 11, 2019
After the 2020 election, Bernie Sanders and the House Progressive Caucus are trying to convert a slim lead in the House and a tie in the Senate into a mandate to convert the United States into a European style welfare state. They want us to emulate the success of the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland by making the rich "pay their fair share." That is not how they do in Northern Europe. In this commentary, we investigate how the Nordic countries do it.
Quote from the Commentary:
"1.3 million Swedes emigrated to America in the nineteenth century, that was about a fifth of their whole population at the time. Emigration to the United States was so bad that the Swedes had to create the Swedish Emigration Commission to staunch the flow. The recommendation of the commission? To slow the outflow of Swedish citizens to America, the commission recommended that Sweden become more like America."
July 6-17, 2018
Victor C. Bolles
I greatly fear that my poor prose is inadequate to explain how important the generation of profit (surplus) is, not only to economic growth but to the development of human civilization itself.
The Building Blocks series of essays discuss a vitally important topic that will be the most important issue of the 2020 election (although many people will be unaware of this underlying cause of much heated rhetoric). The progressive left believes profit (or surplus) arises from exploitation and is therefore illegitimate and should be eliminated from the economy (as in their Medicare for All bill currently in Congress). The Building Blocks series of essays discusses why profit is not only vital for economic growth it is also essential to the development of civilization.
June 6, 2018
Victor C. Bolles
The topic of Entitlement reform is frequently raised but rarely discussed in a forthright and reasoned way. What are entitlements and why are they so politically sacrosanct that reform seems virtually impossible.
"So “entitlement” as a government provided benefit is a recent concept that has become engrained into our society as a right so powerful that it cannot be constrained let alone eliminated. But the concept of “entitlement” was foreign to the Framers of the Constitution of the United States as well."
Another reason Mr. Trump (as well as Mrs. Clinton) is wrong about trade.
July 6, 2016
Economists have almost universally condemned Donald Trump’s proposals on international trade citing the benefits of Ricardian competitive advantage as well as the benefits to consumers of lower prices. They are, of course, correct. And trying to reshore manufacturing plants back to the US through threats and tariffs will not result in widespread blue-collar employment as Mr. Trump predicts. Those jobs will go to robots as is already happening – only faster.
