American Politicians Should Copy Canada’s Leftist Government of the 1990s and Cap Spending

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 21, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending

Since I’ve written before about Canada’s remarkable period of fiscal restraint during the 1990s, I am very pleased to see that the establishment press is finally giving some attention to what our northern neighbors did to reduce the burden of government spending. Here...

New CBO Numbers Confirm – Once Again – that Modest Spending Restraint Can Balance the Budget

by Dan Mitchell | Aug 24, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending

The Congressional Budget Office has just released the update to its Economic and Budget Outlook. There are several things from this new report that probably deserve commentary, including a new estimate that unemployment will “remain above 8 percent until 2014.” This...

The Debt-Limit Fight, “Cut, Cap, and Balance,” and Rescuing America from Greek-Style Fiscal Collapse

by Dan Mitchell | Jul 18, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending

Here’s a new video from the Cato Institute, featuring my pearls of wisdom, along with equally sage commentary from my colleague Chris Edwards. We make two simple points. First, America faces a Greek-style fiscal crisis if we leave the federal budget on autopilot...

I’m Willing to Go Along with President Obama’s “Balanced Approach” to Deficit Reduction, but Only if We Use Honest Math

by Dan Mitchell | Jul 6, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation

The President has issued an ultimatum that more tax revenue must be part of budget negotiations. Indeed, he endlessly repeats his desire for a “balanced approach,” implying that as much as 50 percent of the deficit reduction in any agreement should come from higher...

Could Technical Default Today Save America from Greek-Style Fiscal Disaster in the Future?

by Dan Mitchell | May 14, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending

There’s a lot of buzz about a Wall Street Journal interview with Stanley Druckenmiller, in which he argues that a temporary delay in making payments on U.S. government debt (which technically would be a default) would be a small price to pay if it resulted in the...