by Dan Mitchell | Feb 13, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs
Since I’m always reading and writing about government policies, both in America and around the world, I’m frequently reminded of H.L. Mencken’s famous observation about the shortcomings of “tolerable” government. If you take a close look at the world’s freest...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 9, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
When I debate one of my leftist friends about deficits, it’s often a strange experience because none of us actually care that much about red ink. I’m motivated instead by a desire to shrink the burden of government spending, so I argue for spending restraint rather...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 17, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Tax Competition, Taxation
Mancur Olson (1932-1998) was a great economist who came up with a very useful analogy to help explain the behavior of many governments. He pointed out that a “roving bandit” has an incentive to maximize short-run plunder by stealing everything from victims (i.e. a 100...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 31, 2016 | Uncategorized
There was some genuinely good news in 2016, which is more than I can say for 2015 (my “best” development for that year was some polling data, followed by some small-ball tinkering). Though the good news for 2016 was mostly overseas. Here are the four things from...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 15, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Bureaucracy
Back in 2013, I got very upset when I learned that senior bureaucrats at the IRS awarded themselves big bonuses, notwithstanding the fact that the agency wasdeeply tarnished by scandal because of its efforts to help Obama’s reelection campaign. That’s when I decided...
