by Dan Mitchell | Jan 25, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Welfare and Entitlements
If you don’t want to be depressed, you should stop reading right now. You probably know that we’ve been suffering because of a rising burden of government spending. And you probably understand that much of the problem is the relentless growth of redistribution and...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 23, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Just like in the United States, politicians in the United Kingdom use the deceptive practice of “baseline budgeting” as part of fiscal policy. This means the politicians can increase spending, but simultaneously claim they are cutting spending because the budget could...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 16, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Keynesian, Taxation
Good fiscal policy doesn’t require heavy lifting. Governments simply need to limit the burden of government spending. The key variable is making sure spending doesn’t consume ever-larger shares of economic output. In other words, follow Mitchell’s Golden Rule. It’s...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 13, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs
I have a serious question for readers. What’s worse, bailouts for government or bailouts for the private sector? Yes, both are bad, but is it worse to bail out a bankrupt entitlement program, such as Social Security, or it is worse to bail out an industry, such as the...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 12, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
I’ve frequently commented on Europe’s fiscal mess and argued that excessive government spending is responsible for both the sovereign debt crisis and the economic stagnation that plagues the continent. But it does seem that things have calmed down, so the readers who...
