How Can Obama Look at these Two Charts and Conclude that America Should Have Higher Double Taxation of Dividends and Capital Gains?

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 14, 2012 | Blogs, Capital Gains, Economics, Taxation

As discussed yesterday, the most important number in Obama’s budget is that the burden of government spending will be at least $2 trillion higher in 10 years if the President’s plan is enacted. But there are also some very unsightly warts in the revenue portion of the...

Data in New World Bank Report Shows that Large Public Sectors Reduce Economic Growth

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 11, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending

When Ronald Reagan said that big government undermined the economy, some people dismissed his comments because of his philosophical belief in liberty. And when I discuss my work on the economic impact of government spending, I often get the same reaction. This is why...

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...