We have five fantastic selections for you this week. Dan Mitchell returns to talk about the making of Welfare systems that trap people into being lazy and living off government handouts. We also have FMRS veteran John Fund talking criticizing Obama for his lack of knowledge of what it means to be an American. And much more! We hope you enjoy the readings.

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Immigrants and welfarism in Sweden

It is always wise to learn from the mistakes of others, in this case we’ll take a close look at the Welfare and immigration problems Sweden is experiencing. Sweden is very open to letting immigrants and refugees into their country. The problem appears when these refugees don’t get jobs and live almost solely off Welfare sometimes ten years after they are welcomed into the country. In Dan Mitchell’s article “Lessons from Sweden about Welfare and Immigration” Dan goes into detail how these immigrants become addicted to living off others.

Matteo Renzi’s Italy

“With great Power comes great responsibility”- Uncle Ben Spiderman. This famous quote although from a fictional character holds a lot of truth. Unfortunately for Italy, their prime minister clearly has never heard it. In Professor Enrico Colombatto’s new article “Geopolitics: Matteo Renzi ignores Italy’s economic realities” explains the full extent to the negligence that current Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is guilty of, and warns of the consequences of that will come about from this lack of action.

Greece, the euro, and the UK

Will Greece leave the Euro? This was been a question on the minds of many for quite a long time now. Both the Greek government and the Eurozone have been at odds about the current situation and now both are holding their ground in disagreement. Dan Hannan explains in a recent article that a “Grexit” might be best for Greece and the U.K.

What does it mean to be an American?

President Obama recently talked at a Cleveland town hall meeting. He strongly supported the restriction of the freedom of speech – which happens to be the country’s First Amendment. Chief among his disregard for the first amendment is that he spoke of how he wished to see the American citizenry forced into voting, with fines or jail time as the consequence for not voting. This sounds heinous act for any country that supports our freedom of speech. John Fund explains in greater details the mistake the U.S. president made when he made this claim in one of his latest articles “Mr. President, We Have a Civil Right Not to Vote”.

Deirdre McCloskey on bourgeois values

“Capitalism has always been with us, since the caves.”- Deirdre Nansen McCloskey. If this statement isn’t enough to make you want to read this, you need to reassess your life choices. In McCloskey’s article “It was Ideas and Ideologies, not Interests or Institutions, which Changed in Northwestern Europe, 1600-1848” she goes on the offensive attacking common reliance by economic theorists on outdated narratives of the Industrial Revolution and the succeeding Great Enrichment. This is a well put together article that you should take the time to read.