by Dan Mitchell | Aug 16, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
Even though I’ve already made clear that I am less-than-overwhelmed by the thought of Mitt Romney in the White House, I worry that people will become to think I’m a GOP toady. That’s because I’ve been spending a lot of time providing favorable analysis and commentary...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 13, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste
The burden of federal spending in the United States was down to 18.2 percent of gross domestic product when Bill Clinton left office. But this progress didn’t last long. Thanks to George Bush’s reckless spending policies, the federal budget grew about twice as fast as...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 13, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation, VAT
For years, I’ve been warning that a value-added tax (VAT) would be a terrible idea. Simply stated, politicians would have no reason to control spending or reform entitlements if they had a new source of tax revenue. In this video, I explain why this European-style...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 10, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
While I disagree with statists, I sometimes admire their discipline. They are very good at staying “on message.” I am 100 percent confident, for instance, that they intend big tax hikes on the middle class, even though they would piously swear an oath to the contrary....
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 7, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
I like sequestration. Automatic budget cuts might not be the best way of reducing the burden of government spending, but a sequester is better than leaving the federal budget on autopilot. Particularly since the “cuts” are mostly just reductions in already-scheduled...
