Back in 2010, I shared some wise words from Walter Williams and Theodore Dalrymple about how society can become unstable when people figure they can “vote themselves money.” On a related note, I shared the famous “riding in the wagon” cartoons in 2011 and the “Danish…
Dan Mitchell
Daniel J. Mitchell is the President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and the Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation. Dr. Mitchell advocates limited government and fundamental tax reform, and is the nation’s leading opponent of tax harmonization schemes developed by the Brussels-based European Union, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations.
In addition to fiscal policy, Dr. Mitchell is a trenchant observer of economic developments and an expert on Social Security reform – particularly the fiscal policy impact of reform and what the US can learn from other nations that have created personal retirement accounts.
Believe It or Not: A Communist Nation Is the World’s Most Pro-Capitalist Country
Every so often, I share polling data from other nations that is either encouraging or puzzling. Looking through the archives, here are some memorable examples. *Americans are more libertarian than Europeans. *On the other hand, the French support spending cuts by a…
The United States Improves to #12 in New Rankings of Global Economic Freedom
Divided government is good for America’s economy. Or, to be more specific, divided government is a net plus if the alternative is to have statists fully in charge of economic policy. I made this point back in 2012 when I pointed out that the unemployment rate started…
Myths about Capitalism
In addition to his side job as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Economics Department at Harvard University, Jeff Miron is Director of Economic Studies at the Cato Institute. He’s also the narrator of this video from Learn Liberty that discusses three myths…
A Very Bad Year for Obamacare…and a Worse Year for the Victims of Obamacare
In the last few months of 2013, Obamacare suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks dealing with everything from a clunky website to plan cancellations tothe White House feeling compelled to arbitrarily ignore the law. Since that time, though, people seem to have…
The Ebola Virus and the Case for Limited – and Competent – Government
Does big government necessarily and automatically imply incompetent government? Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. Robert Samuelson, for instance, has written that the federal government is so large that it breeds failure and disappointment. I added my two…
Bureaucrats at the United Nations Endorse Sweeping New Tax Powers for Politicians
I’m not a big fan of international bureaucracies. Regular readers know that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is the worst institution from my perspective, followed by the International Monetary Fund. Some folks ask why the United Nations isn’t…
Obama Is Right about the European Economy…But Doesn’t Grasp the Implications
I’m not a big fan of Obamanomics. I don’t like the President’s class-warfare mentality on taxes. I don’t like his support for Keynesian spending policy. And I don’t like his costly expansions of government such as Obamacare. Indeed, I even like mocking his reflexive…
Nation’s Leader Rejects Keynesian Economics, Acknowledges that Real Jobs Are Created by the Private Sector
You’re probably surprised by the title of this post. You may even be wondering if President Obama had an epiphany on the road to Greece? I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but the leader we’re talking about isn’t the President of the United States. Instead, we’re…
Led by North Carolina and Kansas, a Look at States Moving in the Right Direction
My colleagues Chris Edwards and Nicole Kaeding have just released the biannual Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors from the Cato Institute. The Report Card is on the Cato Institute’s most impressive publications sincedevelopments on the state level help…