by Dan Mitchell | May 13, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
I got a few cranky emails after my post suggesting the United States should copy the Baltic nations and implement genuine spending cuts. These less-than-friendly pen pals were upset that I favorably commented on the fiscal discipline of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia...
by Dan Mitchell | May 10, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
I spoke yesterday at a press event put together by some of the Tea Party groups. Here’s what I said about the debt limit. I debunked the notion that a higher debt limit was needed to avoid default and explained that the problem is too much spending and that deficits...
by Dan Mitchell | May 5, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
Martin Feldstein’s on a roll, but not in a good way. Earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal, he advocated throwing in the towel on reforming Social Security into a system of personal retirement accounts. Today, in the New York Times, he endorses big tax...
by Dan Mitchell | May 4, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Laffer Curve, Taxation
As I have explained elsewhere, tax increases are a bad idea – unless you favor bigger government. And I’ve already added my two cents to the tax debate between Senator Coburn and Grover Norquist regarding the desirability of higher taxes. So it won’t surprise anyone...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 22, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Welfare and Entitlements
Under current law, Social Security is supposed to be an “earned benefit,” where taxes are akin to insurance premiums that finance retirement benefits for workers. And because there is a cap on retirement benefits, this means there also is a “wage-base cap” on the...
