by Dan Mitchell | May 13, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Constitution
If I had to pick a government policy that would be most upsetting to our Founding Fathers, I’d be tempted to pick the income tax. Or maybe some useless agency, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development. After all, surely the Founders didn’t envision – or...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 28, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs
Notwithstanding the title of this post, I’m not going to make an ultra-libertarian argument that all taxation is theft. Instead, today’s topic is about a more specialized version of theft by government, which technically is called civil asset forfeiture but more...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 23, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Crime, Justice, Society
Earlier today, I gave a speech to some folks at London’s Institute of Economic Affairs about the failure of global financial regulation. I touched on some predictable themes: The absence of cost/benefit analysis for regulatory initiatives. The failure of anti-money...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 26, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Crime, Financial Privacy, Society
A report from the New York Times that has me frothing at the mouth. I can’t imagine any decent person not being outraged by this example of big government run amok. For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only...
by Dan Mitchell | May 15, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Crime, Society
Since I’m a public finance economist, I realize I’m supposed to focus on big-picture issues such as tax reform and entitlement reform. And I do beat those issues to death, so I obviously care about controlling the size and power of government. But I like to think I’m...
