by Dan Mitchell | Mar 28, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe
Motivated in part by a sensible desire for free trade, six nations from Western Europe signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957, thus creating the European Economic Community (EEC). Sort of a European version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (now known as USMCA)....
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 27, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Free Market
Five days ago, I wrote “Coronavirus and Big Government” to highlight how sloth-like bureaucracy and stifling red tape deserve much of the blame for America’s slow response to the crisis. And I started that column by sharing four points from a previous column on...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 26, 2020 | Bailouts, Big Government, Blogs, Europe
I’m not an optimist about Europe’s economic future. Most nations have excessive welfare states and punitive taxes, which is hardly good news. You then have to consider demographic trends such as aging populations (i.e., more people relying on government) and falling...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 23, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs
I wrote yesterday how cumbersome bureaucracies and foolish regulations have hindered an effective response to the coronavirus. This isn’t because governments are run by bad people. Some of them probably are that way, of course, but the real problem is that politicians...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 22, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Health Care, Regulations
When the current health crisis heated up, I wrote a column on “Government, Coronavirus, and Libertarianism” and made four simple points. Libertarians believe government should protect life, liberty, and property Libertarians correctly warn that a big sprawling federal...