Paul Light of New York University has a column in the Washington Post that acknowledges an ongoing pattern of incompetence by the federal government. He admits that the bureaucracy is too big. He notes that bureaucratic success is unrelated to merit and that it is…
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.
Bureaucrats vs. Taxpayers, Part VI.
I’m going to have to stop this series soon because it is getting too depressing. This Wall Street Journal column contains more surprising data, including the fact that pension costs for California bureaucrats jumped by 2000 percent in just one decade (revenues…
Political Alchemy: Turning Spending Increases into Tax Cuts, Part I.
Politicians in Washington have come up with something far more impressive than turning lead into gold or water into wine. Using self-serving budget rules, they can increase the burden of government spending and say they are cutting taxes instead. This bit of…
The Global Warming Battle Is not Over.
Proponents of sound science and economic growth certainly have many reasons to be happy. The global-warming crowd has been exposed as a bunch of fraudsters, the Copenhagen “climate change” summit collapsed in failure, and there now appears to be no chance…
Great Moments in Local Government.
I’d say only a government would be stupid enough to sign a contract that obligates them to pay somebody more than $100K each year for doing nothing, though it’s possible the corporate bureaucrats at the auto companies may have done something equally…
Greetings from Canada.
I’m just back from a swing through Canada, giving speeches for the Fraser Institute to audiences in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. I’ve been talking about the size of government and the future of capitalism. As you might imagine, several people have…
The Debilitating Economic Consequences of Bigger Government.
While speaking in Canada last week, I authored a column in the Financial Post. I hope the entire piece is worth reading, but here are a few of the highlights: The Obama Administration claimed that spending more money would keep the unemployment rate below 8% in the…
A Tribute to the Man Who Saved America.
Ronald Reagan was born 99 years ago on this date. The tribute is moving, but this video underscores what made Reagan special. Unlike most Republicans today, he actually believed in freedom.
Volcker Is Right about "Resolution Authority."
As I noted a few days ago, Paulson’s bailout was the worst possible way to do a bad thing. To the extent that the government had to inject money into the financial system, I explained, it would have been far better to use the “FDIC Resolution”…
Bureaucrats vs. Taxpayers, Part V.
This may not be as dumbfounding as being told not to advertise for reliable people in England, but I certainly was shocked to see that nearly one-in-five federal bureaucrats is paid more than $100,000 – and that doesn’t even include overtime and bonuses!…