Sweden has reformed its welfare state to deliver both efficiency and equity | EUROPP

Will Tanner writes:

At face value, the Swedish welfare state is an unlikely poster child for sustainable government. In 2011-12, government spending was 53.1 per cent of GDP, paid for by taxes on the average worker of 42.7 per cent. The country’s “cradle to grave” social security system has long been used as evidence that government can and should be bigger, not smaller. Despite this, the Swedish state is showing policymakers the world over how to deliver high quality services at low cost.

Read more at Sweden has reformed its welfare state to deliver both efficiency and equity – the UK should learn from its example. | EUROPP.

Larry Elder | Is the US becoming a food stamp nation?

Larry Kudlow interviews Larry Elder: Is there a future for free markets?

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“We are at the point where almost 50 percent of voters can go into that voting booth and pull the lever to vote themselves a raise….”

Australia: Not fiscal cliff — fiscal flab

Jessica Irvine writes that Australia is faced with an aging population and spiraling health costs, but a free-spending government will leave us unprepared.

Two veteran Budget forecasting groups, Deloitte Access Economics and Macroeconomics, have in recent days delivered their verdict on Mr Swan’s mid-year Budget update: It’s codswallop. The Federal Budget is not in surplus by $1.1 billion this year but in deficit by $4.2 billion, according to Deloitte, and $7 billion, according to Macroeconomics…..

via We're afflicted with the same fiscal flab most governments struggle with | thetelegraph.com.au.