by Dan Mitchell | Feb 24, 2021 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
While it’s true that every penny in the budget requires money to be diverted from the economy’s productive sector, not all government spending is created equal when considering the impact on growth. Some types of spending, such as redistribution...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 23, 2021 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
What nation serves as the most powerful example of how statism can wreck an economy and impoverish people? The Soviet UnionGreeceCubaChinaZimbabweVenezuela Those are all good choices, but perhaps Argentina is the best example (or should we say worst example?). If...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 22, 2021 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
There are many compelling economic arguments against entitlement programs. They discourage savings.They discourage work.They are funded with taxes.They are funded with debt. Since I’m a libertarian, I also have moral concerns about...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 21, 2021 | Blogs, Taxation
When politicians target “the rich” with class-warfare schemes like wealth taxes, it’s often ordinary people that bear the costs. For a painful example of how this works in the real world, check out the first 42 seconds of this video. From an economic...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 20, 2021 | Blogs, Economics
I have mixed feelings about China’s economic policies. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, China was horrifically impoverished because of socialist policies. According to the Maddison database, the country was actually poorer under communism...
