by Dan Mitchell | Aug 30, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Socialism
Three years ago, I shared a cartoon that succinctly summarized the problem with socialism and the welfare state. It’s the same lesson that we also get from Thomas Sowell, which is that redistribution over time creates an ever-larger number of dependents financed by...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 27, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Europe
My primary job is dealing with misguided public policy in the United States. I spend much of my time either trying to undo bad policies with good reform (flat tax, spending restraint, regulatory easing, trade liberalization) or fighting off additional bad...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 24, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Trade
Earlier this year, I identified Trump’s “worst ever tweet.” I was wrong. That tweet, which displayed an astounding level of economic ignorance, is now old news. Trump issued a tweet yesterday that is far worse because it combines bad economic theory with horrifying...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 23, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation, Trade
I wrote two days ago about how the White House is contemplating ideas to boost the economy. This is somewhat worrisome since “stimulus” plans oftentimes are based on Keynesian economics, which has a terrible track record. But there are policies that could help growth...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 21, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Trade
I’m worried. There’s a lot of talk in Washington about Trump trying to goose the economy with either Keynesian monetary policy or Keynesian fiscal policy. It would be much better, as I discuss in this interview with Yahoo Finance, if Trump instead declared a ceasefire...