by Dan Mitchell | Mar 15, 2013 | Blogs, Economics
I wrote about the Ryan budget two days ago, praising it for complying with Mitchell’s Golden Rule and reforming Medicare and Medicaid. But I believe in being honest and nonpartisan, so I also groused that it wasn’t as good as the 2011 and 2012 versions. Now it’s time...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 6, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Keynesian
Triggered by an appearance on Canadian TV, I asked yesterday why we should believe anti-sequester Keynesians. They want us to think that a very modest reduction in the growth of government spending will hurt the economy, yet Canada enjoyed rapid growth in the...
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 | Jun 12, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
A couple of weeks ago, I debunked the myth that Obama is a fiscal conservative by showing how TARP masks his real record. I then followed up that post by showing that Obama is a traditional leftist who spends on social welfare programs, but also did a final post...
by Dan Mitchell | May 24, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
A financial columnist named Rex Nutting recently triggered a firestorm of controversy by claiming that Barack Obama is not a big spender. Here’s the chart he prepared, which certainly seems to indicate that Obama is a fiscal conservative. Not only that, it shows that...