Acting as the Typhoid Mary of the Global Economy, the OECD Urges Higher Taxes in Latin America

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 7, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics

Is it April Fool’s Day? Has somebody in Paris hacked the website at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development? Have we been transported to a parallel dimension where up is down and black is white? Please forgive all these questions. I’m trying to...

Classic Cartoon on So-Called Stimulus Is Amusing and Economically Accurate

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 6, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Keynesian

People often ask why I put so much political humor on this site. The easy answer is that I like a good joke. But I also find that some cartoons and jokes do a very good job of helping people understand economics. I’ve always liked this cartoon, for instance, because...

In a Victory for Gridlock, the Unemployment Rate Has Dropped 1.5-Percentage Points Since Republicans Took Control of the House

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 3, 2012 | Blogs, Economics

The new unemployment numbers show a joblessness rate of 8.3 percent. From a political perspective, this is good news for the White House. Even though the Obama Administration projected that the unemployment rate today would be about 2-percentage points lower if the...

One Year Later, Another Look at Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 2, 2012 | Blogs, Economic Growth, Economics

On this day last year, I posted two charts that I developed using the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank’s interactive website. Those two charts showed that the current recovery was very weak compared to the boom of the early 1980s. But perhaps that was an unfair...

Debating at U.S. News & World Report, I Explain Double Taxation to the Economic Heathens

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 1, 2012 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation

Never let it be said I back down from a fight, even when it’s the other team’s game, played by the other team’s rules, and for the benefit of the wrong person. And that definitely went through my mind when U.S. News & World Report asked me to contribute to their...