by Dan Mitchell | Jan 11, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
There is a very bizarre race happening in Illinois. The Governor and the leaders of the State Senate and General Assembly are trying to figure out how to ram through a massive tax increase, but they’re trying to make it happen before new state lawmakers take office...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 11, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Thanks to decades of reckless spending by European welfare states, the newspapers are filled with headlines about debt, default, contagion, and bankruptcy. We know that Greece and Ireland already have received direct bailouts, and other European welfare states are...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 10, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
There are two crises facing Social Security. First the program has a gigantic unfunded liability, largely caused by demographics. Second, the program is a very bad deal for younger workers, making them pay record amounts of tax in exchange for comparatively meager...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 5, 2011 | Bailouts, Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Monetary Policy
The news is going from bad to worse for Ireland. The Irish Independent is reporting that the Swiss Central Bank no longer will accept Irish government bonds as collateral. The story also notes that one of the world’s largest bond firms, PIMCO, is no longer purchasing...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 22, 2010 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
Here are a few predictions for next year. It will be hot in Dallas in July, it will be cold in Stockholm in February, and Governor Jerry Brown of California will ask Uncle Sam for some sort of bailout. I’m actually not sure about the first two predictions, but I think...
