by Dan Mitchell | Jan 11, 2021 | Blogs, Economics
I have repeatedly warned that nations get in fiscal trouble when government is too big and growing too fast. In such countries, it’s very common to find high levels of government debt as one of the symptoms of excessive spending. This can create the conditions for a...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 10, 2021 | Big Government, Blogs
I’ve already written a column about the best and worst developments of 2020. But what if we wanted to identify a lesson that society should have learned from the past 12 months? Well, there’s an obvious answer, especially for those of us with libertarian sympathies....
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 9, 2021 | Blogs, Tax Competition, Taxation
If you ask normal people about the biggest thing that happened in 2020, they’ll probably pick coronavirus, though some might say the 2020 election. But if you ask a policy wonk, you may get a different answer. Especially if we’re allowed to tweak the question a bit...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 8, 2021 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
For supporters of sensible policy, 2008 was not a good year. The economy suffered a big drop thanks to bad government policies (easy-money from the Federal Reserve and corrupt housing subsidies from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). So what did politicians do? Sadly, they...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 7, 2021 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation
A “capital gain” occurs when you buy something and later sell it for a higher price. A capital gains tax is when politicians decide they get to grab a slice of that additional wealth. I’ve repeatedly explained that it is economically foolish to have such a tax because...
