by Dan Mitchell | Jun 22, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
The big fiscal debate in the United States is whether the United States should become a European-style welfare state, which is something that automatically will happen over the next few decades in the absence of genuine entitlement reform. Some...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 21, 2023 | Blogs
I like small government and low tax rates because I’m an economist. But I’m a libertarian for a different reason. I don’t want government to have a lot of power because I don’t trust politicians and bureaucrats to treat people...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 20, 2023 | Blogs, Taxation
Last month (May), I wrote that Switzerland was the world’s best-governed nation, based on the latest Misery Index. The month before that (April), I wrote about Switzerland ranking #1 in the Human Freedom Index. And the month before that...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 19, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Regulations
Economists are not anti-regulation, but they are skeptical of rules and mandates that don’t pass a cost-benefit test. Politicians, meanwhile, generally don’t care about regulation. They are not impervious to evidence and analysis, but they mostly want...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 18, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Earlier this year, speaking at the Acton Institute in Michigan, I presented an optimistic case for spending restraint. My premise was very simple, summarized in four sentences. Spending restraint is desperately needed.Spending restraint is...