We Need a Debate about the Size of Government, but It Helps to Understand Basic Fiscal Facts

by Dan Mitchell | Jan 30, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation

Self awareness is supposed to be a good thing, so I’m going to openly acknowledge that I have an unusual fixation on the size of government. I don’t lose a wink of sleep thinking about deficits, but I toss and turn all night fretting about the overall burden of...

Easy Money Is Creating the Conditions for a Bigger European Economic Crisis

by Dan Mitchell | Nov 1, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics

At the beginning of the year, I was asked whether Europe’s fiscal crisis was over. Showing deep thought and characteristic maturity, my response was “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, are you ;@($&^#’% kidding me?” But I then shared specific reasons for pessimism, including the...

If There’s a Grand Bargain, Taxpayers Should Get a Tax Cut rather than a Tax Hike

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 29, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation

The Washington metropolitan area has become America’s wealthiest region because trillions of dollars are taken every year from the productive sector of the economy and then divvied up by the politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists and interest groups that benefit from...

For any Fiscal Policy Question, Spending Restraint Is the Answer

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 24, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending

Okay, I’ll admit the title of this post is an exaggeration. How to fix the mess at the IRS is a fiscal policy question, and that requires tax reform rather than spending restraint. But allow me a bit of literary license. We just had a big debt limit battle in...

Lung Cancer, Heroin, and Government Spending

by Dan Mitchell | Oct 19, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending

If this blog was an episode of Jeopardy, the response to the title of this post would be “Name three things that Dan Mitchell doesn’t like.” But this blog isn’t a game show. It’s a serious forum* for discussing how we protect freedom and prosperity from ever-expanding...