by Dan Mitchell | Feb 25, 2018 | Blogs, Economics
In yesterday’s column, I shared a humorous video mocking the everywhere-its-ever-been-tried global failure of socialism. And I tried to preempt the typical response of my left-wing friends by pointing out that Scandinavian nations are not role models for statism. In...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 23, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
At some point in the next 10 years, there will be a huge fight in the United States over fiscal policy. This battle is inevitable because politicians are violating the Golden Rule of fiscal policy by allowing government spending to grow faster than the private sector...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 22, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
I wrote three days ago about the worst-international-bureaucracy contest between the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. A reader emailed to ask me whether I had a favorite international bureaucracy. I confess...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 9, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
The biggest victory for taxpayers during the Obama years was the Budget Control Act in 2011, which imposed sequester-enforced caps on discretionary spending. Indeed, that legislation was then followed by a sequester in early 2013, which was a stinging defeat for Obama...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 8, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
I strongly applauded the tax reform plan that was enacted in December, especially the lower corporate tax rate and the limit on the deduction for state and local taxes. But I’m not satisfied. Our long-run goal should be fundamental tax reform. And that means replacing...