by Dan Mitchell | Sep 23, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
As we get deeper into an election season, many politicians feel compelled to discuss how to deal with poverty. And some of them may even be serious about trying to improve the system. This hopefully will lead to big-picture discussions of key issues, such as why the...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 22, 2015 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
The biggest mistake of well-meaning leftists is that they place too much value on good intentions and don’t seem to care nearly as much about good results. Pope Francis is an example of this unfortunate tendency. His concern for the poor presumably is genuine, but he...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 18, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Almost everyone in Washington is talking about the recent GOP debate. I sent out a few tweets as I watched, and my main after-the-fact observation is that there was very little discussion about the ever-growing burden of government spending, which is America’s most...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 17, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
As a libertarian, I sometimes make the moral argument for small government. If it’s wrong to steal other people’s income or property, then shouldn’t it also be wrong to use the coercive power of government to take their income or property? Defenders of the welfare...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 16, 2015 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
Last month, I cited data from Economic Freedom of the World to explain that the United States was becoming less competitive because of creeping protectionism and reductions in the rule of law and property rights. Now I have more bad news to share. Last year, the...