Murray Rothbard didn’t need to explain to me on the bus why East Berlin, the so-called Paris of Eastern Europe, was a broken-down dump. He already had explained it to me in his numerous writings.
The problem with the European Union is not that it seeks to integrate Europe's economies. The problem comes from attempts to integrate politics as well.
The covid vaccine experience in Israel shows that one death is prevented for every 26,000 vaccine jabs, at a cost of $1 million. A single hospitalization is prevented with every 5,000 jabs, at a cost of $160,000 each.
If we look beyond the mere tax revenue totals, we begin to understand that the cost of taxation to society is far higher than the tax revenue raised and that the costs to society of taxation grow faster than the size of government.
In Rothbard’s writings I did not find only something totally new to me, but I also found, explained in consistent and simple words, the reasons for the inefficiency and failure of most of the politics of my country, Italy.
The assertion that “tax-financed public goods can make us all better off” is just that: an assertion. As Rothbard showed, there is no reason to just assume consumers would pay for these amenities were they not forced to through taxation.
The economic analysis of repudiation applies to the debt of all levels of government and to all countries. The central question is not how big the government is or how much it owes, but rather whether the debt is funded by taxes.
