by Dan Mitchell | Oct 18, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs
A few days ago, using several methodologies, I calculated how fast government spending increased during the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. One of my big...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 9, 2017 | Bailouts, Big Government, Blogs
Puerto Rico is getting lots of attention because Hurricane Maria caused a tremendous amount of economic damage. That leads to an important discussion about the role of government – particularly the federal government – when there is a natural disaster (and a secondary...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 20, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
I argued last year that leftists should be nice to rich people because upper-income taxpayers finance the vast majority of the American welfare state according to government data. Needless to say, my comment about being “nice” was somewhat sarcastic. But I was making...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 15, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Health Care
In a strange way, I admire Bernie Sanders. He openly embraces big government. Back during the 2016 campaign, I frequently observed that the difference between the Vermont Senator and Hillary Clinton is that he wanted America to become Greece at a much faster rate....
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 9, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
There are some core functions of government, even in a libertarian world. The most prominent examples are national defense by the central government and public safety at the state/local level. So how do we make sure those functions are handled competently? I’ve...
