Interesting editorial in the New York Times:  The Less-Than-Generous State

You would think that we were living in the lap of the Nanny State. One of the most puzzling facts of the political debate is how much traction Republicans still get from their calls to cut taxes and public spending, and how timorous Democrats are in arguing against them. The United States has long had one of the most meager tax takes in the industrial world. America’s social spending — on programs ranging from Medicare and Social Security to food stamps — is almost the stingiest among industrial nations. Among the 30 industrialized countries grouped in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, only four — Turkey, Mexico, South Korea and Ireland — spend less on social programs as a share of their economy.

Long a moral outrage, this tightfisted approach to public needs is becoming an economic handicap. Shortchanging public health impairs America’s competitiveness. If the United States is to reap the rewards of globalization, the government must provide a much more robust safety net — to ensure public support for an open economy and protect vulnerable workers.

For more, see Linda Beale (Wayne State):

[M]arkets need stable, non-corrupt, working governments, and governments need stable, non-corrupt, working markets. And both need a good tax system that raises revenues to support the programs that government needs to run in order to have the economic system — markets and government — work properly.