Regular readers know that good fiscal policy takes place when government spending grows slower than the private economy. Nations that maintain this Golden Rule for extended periods of time shrink the relative burden of government spending, thus enabling more growth by…
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.
Linear Thinking and the Rahn Curve: Responding to a Critic
There’s an old saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. That may be true if you’re in Hollywood and visibility is a key to long-run earnings. But in the world of public policy, you don’t want to be a punching bag. And that describes my role in a book…
Corporate Tax in Japan, Benefits for American Veterans, and Overweight British Kids
The title of this post sounds like the beginning of a strange joke, but it’s actually because we’re covering three issues today. Our first topic is corporate taxation. More specifically, we’re looking at a nation that seems to be learning that it’s foolish the have a…
More Child Abuse at a Government-Run School
From a macro perspective, the most distressing aspect of America’s education system is that taxpayers spend a lot of money (more than any other people in the world, on a per-student basis) and we get very mediocre results. And it’s getting worse over time. This famous…
Income Inequality and Guilt-Ridden Leftists
Our leftist friends have decided that income inequality is a scourge that must be addressed. That might be a noble goal if they were motivated by a desire to improve the lives of the less fortunate. Based on their policy proposals, though, it appears that the main…
The Constitution, Rule of Law, and the Power of the Political Class
Why are so many people upset that the Obama White House keeps arbitrarily changing parts of Obamacare – even when bad provisions are being suspendedor certain groups are being exempted from bad policy? Well, some of them may simply dislike Obama or government-run…
Be Thankful for Capitalism and Rich Entrepreneurs
In previous columns, I’ve explained why a wealth tax is a very bad idea. And I’ve also pontificated on why leftists are wrong to pursue policies of coerced equality. So it goes without saying that I’m a big fan of a new Wall Street Journal column by John…
Worried About Inequality? Then Focus on Helping the Poor, not Punishing the Rich
I haven’t spent much time writing about Thomas Piketty’s inequality book for the simple reason that my goal is economic liberty, not equality. That being said, I think that Piketty is fundamentally misguided even if the goal is helping the poor. Simply stated,…
The VA Health Scandal Is about Government Incompetence, not Inadequate Funding
I’ve never been susceptible to the claim that you solve problems with taxpayer money. Indeed, this amusing poster is a pretty good summary of my views on the effectiveness of government spending. But what about the horrific stories about veterans dying because of…
Global Trends in Economic Freedom
I’m in Vancouver, Canada, for the biennial meeting of the World Taxpayers Associations. I gave a speech on why tax competition is a valuable force to constrain the greed of the political class, but warned the audience that high-tax governments and international…