by Dan Mitchell | Sep 22, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
Because of my disdain for the two statists that were nominated by the Republicans and Democrats, I’m trying to ignore the election. But every so often, something gets said or written that cries out for analysis. Today is one of those days. Hillary Clinton has an...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 21, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
When writing a few days ago about the newly updated numbers from Economic Freedom of the World, I mentioned in passing that New Zealand deserves praise “for big reforms in the right direction.” And when I say big reforms, this isn’t exaggeration or puffery. Back in...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 20, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Tax Harmonization, Taxation
I’ve previously written about the bizarre attack that the European Commission has launched against Ireland’s tax policy. The bureaucrats in Brussels have concocted a strange theory that Ireland’s pro-growth tax system provides “state aid” to companies like Apple (in...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 19, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
I’m not a fan of the International Monetary Fund. The bureaucracy was created in 1944 to manage and coordinate the system of fixed exchange rates created as part of the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement. But once fixed exchange rates disappeared, the over-funded...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 18, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe
When I tell journalists and politicians that the European fiscal situation is worse today than it was immediately prior to the crisis, they don’t believe me. What about all the spending cuts, they ask? What about the draconian austerity? And the Troika-imposed fiscal...