by Dan Mitchell | Jun 18, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Taxation
I wrote the other day that Americans, regardless of all the bad policy we get from Washington, should be thankful we’re not stuck in a hellhole like Venezuela. But we also should be happy we’re not Europeans. This is a point I’ve made before, usually accompanied by...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 17, 2014 | Uncategorized
Why are some nations rich and other nations poor? What has enabled some nations to escape poverty while others continue to languish? And if we want to help poor nations prosper, what’s the right recipe? Since I’m a public finance economist, I’m tempted to say a flat...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 13, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Imagine how weird it would be if the Cato Institute and Americans for Tax Reform praised Barack Obama for fiscal responsibility. And think how inconceivable it would be for the Heritage Foundation and the National Taxpayers Union to applaud Tim “Turbotax” Geithner for...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 11, 2014 | Blogs, Economics, Europe, Laffer Curve, Tax Competition, Taxation
When the new Tory-led government came to power in the United Kingdom, I was rather unimpressed. David Cameron positioned himself as a British version of George W. Bush, full of “compassionate conservative” ideas to expand the burden of government. But even worse than...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 10, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Keynesian, Taxation, VAT
Regular readers know that good fiscal policy takes place when government spending grows slower than the private economy. Nations that maintain this Golden Rule for extended periods of time shrink the relative burden of government spending, thus enabling more growth by...
