by Dan Mitchell | Mar 20, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
When I write about Social Security, I normally focus on two serious deficiencies. The program was never properly designed to deal with demographic change, which means there’s a gargantuan long-run budgetary shortfall of $44 trillion. The program is a very bad deal for...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 18, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Trade
In January, I shared a short video about protectionism, which expanded on some analysis from a one-minute video from last year. Today, here’s a short video explaining the trade deficit, which also expands on a one-minute video from last year. Simply stated, trade...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 17, 2019 | Blogs, Constitution, Economics
Two days ago, I wrote about how the Constitution was designed, in large part, to protect Americans from majoritarianism. The Supreme Court is doing a reasonably good job of protecting some of our liberties (or, in the Heller case, restoring our liberties), but I point...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 15, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Trade
In a video I shared two months ago included a wide range of academic studies showing that government-imposed trade barriers undermine economic prosperity. Not that those results were a surprise. Theory teaches us that government intervention is a recipe for economic...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 12, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
When I write about the benefits of trade, I periodically point out that America has a trade deficit because it has a foreign investment surplus. And since investment is a key driver of economic growth and rising wages, that’s a good outcome. It basically means that...