by Dan Mitchell | Jul 10, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, States, Taxation
There’s an old saying that states are the laboratories of democracy. But since I’m a policy wonk, I focus more on the lessons we can learn from the states about public policy. Such as the importance of limiting the destructive nature of taxes. Such as the economic...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 7, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
When I make speeches about fiscal policy, I oftentimes share a table showing the many nations that have made big progress by enforcing spending restraint over multi-year periods. I then ask audiences a rhetorical question about a possible list of nations that have...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 3, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Back in 2010, I described the “Butterfield Effect,” which is a term used to mock clueless journalists for being blind to the real story. A former reporter for the New York Times, Fox Butterfield, became a bit of a laughingstock in the 1990s for publishing a series of...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 25, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
I detest writing about Greece. I suggested back in 2010 that the best outcome was default, which would have been the most likely outcome of a no-bailouts approach. And for the past five years, events have confirmed – over and over again – that this was the right...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 20, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Last September, I wrote about some very disturbing 10-year projections that showed a rising burden of government spending. Those numbers were rather depressing, but a recently released long-term forecast from the Congressional Budget Office make the 10-year numbers...