Part of my job is to educate people about free markets and fiscal policy. In some cases, that means providing information and analysis to those already sympathetic to limited government. There are many people who like the idea of lower tax burdens, for instance, but…
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.
Is Secession a Good Idea?
I’m not talking about secession in the United States, where the issue is linked to the ugliness of slavery (though at least Walter Williams can write about the issue without the risk of being accused of closet racism). But what about Europe? I have a hard time…
My Critique of Biden’s Class Warfare…and a Very Compelling Argument from A Guy Who Escaped Communism
I talked a couple of days ago to Neil Cavuto about whether the Obama Administration is slightly modifying its class-warfare tax policy. As you can see, I’m not overly fixated on the parsing of Biden’s comments since I’m against higher tax rates for anyone. And my…
Will Obama Benefit from Bad Jobs Numbers that Look Good?
That’s a clunky title for this post, but I couldn’t think of any other way of expressing the potential political impact of a very muddled employment situation. Let’s start with the obvious. The White House is very happy about the recent numbers showing that the…
No Matter How Hard He Tries, Obama Will Never Be as Bad as FDR
I’ve explained on many occasions that Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was bad news for the economy. And the same can be said of Herbert Hoover’s policies, since he also expanded the burden of federal spending, raised tax rates, and increased government intervention. So…
The Federalism Solution to the Medicaid Nightmare
This election season has seen lots of talk (and demagoguery) about whether investors, entrepreneurs, and small business owners should be hit with class-warfare tax policy. And there’s also been lots of debate about the best way of averting bankruptcy for Medicare,…
European Politicians Share Obama’s View of a “Balanced Approach”
President Obama supports higher taxes, but he usually claims he only wants higher tax rates on evil rich people as part of his class-warfare agenda. Heck, he promised back in 2008 that, “no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not…
Amusing California Satire by Walter Williams, but What if Gov. Brown Takes It Seriously?
I periodically mock the crazy statists of California. The state is almost surely doomed to suffer a Greek-style fiscal chaos. The only unknown is whether Illinois will beat the Golden State into default. The politicians in Sacramento impose very high taxes to fund a…
America’s Best and Worst Governors
One of my favorite Cato Institute publications is the Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors, which is produced by my colleague Chris Edwards. The report card uses variables such as the burden of government spending and the degree of class warfare tax policy…
How Corrupt Is Washington?
Regular readers know that Washington is a very sleazy city. Just as rats and cockroaches are attracted to a dumpster, con artists and fraudsters are attracted to big government. A bloated budget means many opportunities to get unearned wealth by being politically well…