by Dan Mitchell | Oct 6, 2015 | Blogs, Economics
Since it’s basically a way of protecting property rights, environmental protection is a legitimate function of government. That’s the easy part. It gets a lot harder when calculating costs and benefits. Everyone surely agrees that a chemical company shouldn’t be able...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 9, 2015 | Blogs, Energy, Taxation
When the International Monetary Fund endorsed a giant energy tax on the American economy, I was not happy. And not just because the tax hike would have been more than $5,000 for an average family of four. I also was agitated by the hypocrisy. …these bureaucrats...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 31, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Energy, Regulations
When writing about the burden of regulation, I often share big numbers about aggregate cost, job losses, time wasted, and foregone growth. But I sometimes wonder if such data is effective in the battle for good policy. Maybe it’s better, at least in some cases, to...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 29, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Energy, Taxation
Explaining why statists are wrong about policy is a necessary part of what I do, but it sometimes can get a bit predictable. So I’ve decided to periodically pick fights with people who generally are on the right side. By the way, I’m definitely not talking about...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 6, 2015 | Blogs
When writing about the Golden State, I generally focus on fiscal policy. After all, California is trying to become the France of America by imposing punitive tax rates and continuously expanding the burden of government spending. And since this leads to the loss of...