The welfare state is not a response to technological or economic conditions that produce hardship and an underclass. The welfare state is created by politicians who institute it. It is politically driven. They could not accomplish this without the existence of a cash cow of productivity growth, but the latter doesn’t fore-ordain that a welfare state be brought into being. Productivity growth doesn’t produce unemployment and people who cannot survive by their own work. There are prices for all sorts of labor, if the labor markets are left to adjust freely. Productivity growth, brought about via capitalism, brings down the … Continue reading When Will the Welfare State Fail?