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Stealing from Each Other How the Welfare State Robs Americans of Money and Spirit
Edgar K. Browning
Book Code: C34822
ISBN: 0-313-34822-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-34822-8
240 pages, tables
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 6/30/2008
List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £25.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
  • Endorsement From James M. Buchanan,
    Nobel Laureate in Economics, 1986:     'Just the facts, ma'am,' and 'Read 'em and weep'--these familiar admonitions summarize Edgar Browning's take on the lamentable modern "transfer" state. But can facts trump the metaphorical absurdity of politics these days? Let's hope the analysis presented here opens a few minds, or at least tempers prejudgment, on some of today's hot-button issues.
  • Endorsement From Former Senator Phil Gramm: Stealing from Each Other is an original and devastating critique of government spending and the modern welfare state. It is an important supplement to the Friedmans' classic: Free to Choose. Because ideas have consequences, Browning has written one of those rare books that could actually change the public policy debate. If you love your freedom and your country, you ought to read this book.
  • Endorsement From Walter E. Williams,
    John M. Olin Distinguished,
    Professor of Economics,
    George Mason University:     Stealing From Each Other is a highly readable and informative documentation of how Americans have become accustomed to using government to live at the expense of their fellow Americans. It's not just a moral issue but has devastating consequences for future generations who will not inherit a nation with the economic robustness and mobility of prior generations.
Description: Almost all Americans would be better off if none of the federal welfare-state policies of the last century--including Social Security--had ever been enacted. So argues economist Edgar Browning, and with good reason: In 1900, government played a very small role in the day-to-day activities of American citizens. There was no income tax. No Social Security. No federal welfare programs. No minimum wage laws. No federal involvement in education. Government was small, spending well under 10 percent of our incomes. But now, federal, state, and local governments spend more than 33 percent of our incomes. Why has government grown so much over the past century? The answer, in Browning's devastating critique of the modern welfare state, is simple: the rise of egalitarian ideology--an ideology that has not just harmed the economy but made us all poorer. This book examines all facets of the welfare state in the U.S. and its egalitarian underpinnings. Egalitarians claim, for instance, that markets are unfair and that we must have redistributive policies to produce "social justice." This reasoning supposedly justifies the two-thirds of federal spending that simply robs Peter to pay Paul. We are stealing from each other. Browning's research and trenchant analysis show that: -Almost all U.S. citizens are harmed by the welfare state--even many of its apparent beneficiaries. -Welfare-state policies have large hidden costs which all told have reduced the average income of Americans by about 25 percent. -There is much less inequality and poverty than is commonly believed. -Most taxpayers will receive less back from Social Security than they put in. Provocative? Indeed. But such conclusions result from the most thoroughgoing economic analysis of the modern welfare state yet written. Written for a general audience, Stealing from Each Other covers everything informed citizens need to know about inequality, poverty, welfare, Social Security, taxation, and the true costs of government redistributive policies.
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • One: Egalitarianism and the Market
  • Two: Inequality
  • Three: Group Inequalities
  • Four: Incomes Around the World
  • Five: Poverty
  • Six: Our Trillion Dollar Welfare System
  • Seven: Social Security and Medicare
  • Eight: More Transfers
  • Nine: Taxation
  • Ten: The (Many) Costs of Transfers
  • Eleven: Just Say No
  • Index
LC Card Number: 2007042511
LCC Class: HV91
Dewey Class: 361
PDF Catalogs:
Praeger Public Library Spring 2008.pdf
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