The statist agenda of ever-growing government requires more money going to Washington, which is why I think that proponents of limited government should do everything they can to block tax increases. This is the “starve the beast” theory, and I’ve previously explained why I think it is a necessary part of any long-run strategy to […]
read more...The number one goal for fiscal policy is to reduce the burden of government spending. The simple way to achieve this goal is to adhere to Mitchell’s Golden Rule and and make sure the private sector grows faster than the public sector. But when politicians fail to exercise that modest amount of fiscal restraint, bad […]
read more...Sigh. I feel like a modern-day Sisyphus. Except I’m not pushing a rock up a hill, only to then watch it roll back down. I have a far more frustrating job. I have to read the same nonsense day after day about “deep spending cuts” even though I keep explaining to journalists that a sequester […]
read more...I shared a couple of amusing sequester cartoons the other day, and I’ve previously written about the absurdity of anti-sequester hysteria in Washington when all it means is that the federal budget will grow by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years rather than $2.5 trillion. This Nate Beeler cartoon effectively captures the mindset of […]
read more...Notwithstanding hysterical rhetoric from the White House, the bureaucracies, and the various pro-spending lobbies in Washington, the sequester does not mean “vicious” or “draconian” spending cuts. I wish that was the case. All it does is restrain spending so that it grows by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years rather than $2.5 trillion. We […]
read more...The value-added tax is a pernicious levy. It’s basically a hidden form of national sales tax, imposed every time a transaction occurs at any stage of the production process. But what irks me about the VAT is not its design (indeed, it shares some key characteristics with the flat tax). What gets me agitated about […]
read more...The looters and moochers in Washington are increasingly agitated by the prospect of sequestration. Automatic budget cuts, we are told, will indiscriminately slash vital programs and undermine economic growth by reducing government spending. This is utter bunk. I would like to “slash vital programs,” but the chart I prepared earlier this week shows that the […]
read more...To save America from the supposedly “savage” and “draconian” budget cuts caused by sequestration, President Obama has instead asked Congress to approve an alternative fiscal package containing additional tax increases. So why is the sequester so bad? Does it slash the budget by 50 percent? Does it shut down departments, programs, and agencies? Sounds good […]
read more...What’s the worst thing about Delaware? No, not Joe Biden. He’s just a harmless clown and the butt of some good jokes. Instead, the so-called First State is actually the Worst State because 100 years ago, on this very day, Delaware made the personal income tax possible by ratifying the 16th Amendment. Though, to be […]
read more...Fighting against statism in Washington is a lot like trying to swim upstream. It seems that everything (how to measure spending cuts, how to estimate tax revenue, etc) is rigged to make your job harder. A timely example is the way the way government puts together data on economic output and the way the media […]
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