by Dan Mitchell | Oct 28, 2024 | Blogs, Trade
Why has the United States imposed a trade embargo against Cuba for many decades? The answer is that both Republican and Democratic politicians have understood that trade restrictions will hurt the Cuban economy. Whether a Cuban blockade makes sense...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 8, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
If you want to understand Washington’s fiscal profligacy, this chart based on OMB data shows what has happened to the federal budget over the past 15 years. There are two big things to understand. We had some very admirable spending restraint...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 28, 2024 | Blogs, Uncategorized
Politicians are not good people. That’s why I have a “Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy” series (though I confess they all have the same message). Part I reviewed evidence of misbehavior by elected officials and their cronies. Part II reviewed evidence of...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 20, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Taxation
Let’s look today at two of the worst public policy ideas, proposals that are so economically illiterate that they get support only from very dogmatic leftists. We’ll start with the deduction for state and local taxes. Since I’m a fan of the flat tax, I don’t...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 13, 2024 | Big Government, Blogs
For libertarians, this is a very depressing election (a feeling we tend to have every four years, so a familiar experience). What basically happens is that two politicians try to bribe us with our own money. This year, we have Kamala Harris, who...
