By Restraining Burden of Federal Spending, Senator Paul Shows How It’s Simple to Balance the Budget

by Dan Mitchell | Mar 12, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Flat Tax, Government Spending, Taxation

Last year, while lounging on the beach in the Caribbean…oops, I mean while doing off-site research, I developed the first iteration of a rule to describe how fiscal policy should operate. Good fiscal policy exists when the private sector grows faster than the public...

According to Obama’s Budget, Burden of Federal Spending Will Be $2 Trillion Higher in 10 Years

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 13, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending

President Obama’s budget proposal was unveiled today, generating all sorts of conflicting statements from both parties. Some of the assertions wrongly focus on red ink rather than the size of government. Others rely on dishonest Washington budget math, which means...

Europe’s Fiscal Crisis Is Caused by too Much Government, and Deficits and Debt Are Merely Symptoms of that Problem

by Dan Mitchell | Jan 22, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending

I don’t expect a  good outcome to the European fiscal crisis, largely because nobody seems to understand that the real problem is excessive government spending. The economic illiterates in the press sometimes say the fight in Europe is between austerity and...

Illinois Downgrade Provides More Evidence that Higher Taxes Make Fiscal Problems Worse, not Better

by Dan Mitchell | Jan 20, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation

I don’t blame the Democrats for wanting to seduce Republicans into a tax-increase trap. Indeed, I completely understand why some Democrats said their top political goal was getting the GOP to surrender the no-tax-hike position. I’m mystified, though, why some...

European Fiscal Agreements Show that Balanced Budget Rules Mean Higher Taxes, not Smaller Government

by Dan Mitchell | Dec 21, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Government Spending, Taxation

I have many frustrations in my life, and near the top of the list is the conservative fixation about balancing the budget. This view is very misguided. Red ink isn’t good, but the fiscal problem in America (as well as Europe, Japan, etc) is that the public sector is...