I’ve spent a lot of time debunking class-warfare tax policy, and I’ve certainly explained ’til I’m blue in the face that big government facilitates a pernicious form of corruption that enriches powerful and well-connected insiders. But I haven’t spent much time…
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.
The IMF, Higher Taxes, and Mitchell’s Law
Here are three common-sense principles. Higher taxes are misguided. They undermine prosperity and finance bigger government. Bailouts also are misguided. They facilitate corruption and encourage moral hazard. And international bureaucracies are misguided. They promote…
Minimum Wage, Maximum Foolishness
Should the federal government make life more difficult for low-skilled workers? I hope everyone will emphatically say “NO!” Heck, most people understandably will think you’re crazy for even asking such a preposterous question. But some of those people will also think…
Challenge for Keynesian Anti-Sequester Hysterics: Why Did America’s Economy Boom When Reagan and Clinton Reduced the Burden of Spending?
Triggered by an appearance on Canadian TV, I asked yesterday why we should believe anti-sequester Keynesians. They want us to think that a very modest reduction in the growth of government spending will hurt the economy, yet Canada enjoyed rapid growth in the…
Challenge for Keynesian Anti-Sequester Hysterics: Why Did Canada’s Economy Boom When the Burden of Spending Was Sharply Reduced?
In this appearance on Canadian TV, I debunk anti-sequester hysteria, pointing out that “automatic budget cuts” merely restrain government so that it grows $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years rather than $2.5 trillion. I also point out that we shouldn’t worry about…
Obama Suffers a Painful Loss in the First Big Fiscal Battle of His Second Term
The statist agenda of ever-growing government requires more money going to Washington, which is why I think that proponents of limited government should do everything they can to block tax increases. This is the “starve the beast” theory, and I’ve previously explained…
Great Moments in State Government
Back in 2010, I shared parts of a Dave Barry column that mocked the government for bizarre examples of stupid law enforcement. Barry was specifically making fun of OSHA bureaucrats for fining a company for the horrible transgression of saving a worker when a trench…
Will Growing Dependency and Erosion of Social Capital Turn America into Europe?
One of my favorite political cartoons is this Michael Ramirez gem showing President Obama following the European lemmings over the cliff of statism. But this isn’t a laughing matter. As shown in this remarkable graph on global living standards, Americans enjoy…
Let’s Shed a Tear for those Under-Appreciated Bureaucrats Who Get Lavish Pensions and Live in $700K Homes
When I first read this story in the Washington Post about supposedly under-appreciated federal bureaucrats, I was tempted to focus on the sentence referring to “the sledgehammer of budget cuts scheduled to hit today.” Is the Washington Post so biased and/or clueless…
Jack Lew and Citigroup: How the Corrupt Rich Get Unjustly Richer with Crony Capitalism
If you’re an amoral person with political connections, it’s possible to make a lot of money. Warren Buffett lined his pockets by making a government-subsidized investment in Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis. The rest of us suffered and he got richer, but the…