*  *  *  Introduction It has been just over five years since the worst days of the global financial crisis, which began with the dramatic collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. While the subsequent Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, it hardly seems over, given the slow-motion recovery of the global economy.
Chart 9 shows that the “national burden,” defined as the sum of taxes and social security contributions, currently stands at 36% of national income. The ratio is much smaller than those for some European countries. If we use the “potential national burden,” which includes the fiscal deficit, the same conclusion still holds.