by Dan Mitchell | May 20, 2015 | Blogs, Economics, Flat Tax, Taxation
In my ultimate fantasy world, Washington wouldn’t need any sort of broad-based tax because we succeeded in shrinking the federal government back to the very limited size and scope envisioned by our Founding Fathers. In my more realistic fantasy world, we might not be...
by Dan Mitchell | May 11, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
America has a giant long-run problem largely caused by poorly designed entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. So when I wrote last month about proposals by some Democrats to expand Social Security, I was less than enthusiastic....
by Dan Mitchell | May 6, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
I’ve openly stated that there are tax-hiking budget deals that theoretically would be attractive. But notice that “theoretically” is part of that sentence. That’s because in the real world, tax hikes have a poisonous effect on fiscal policy. Instead of being the...
by Dan Mitchell | May 3, 2015 | Blogs, Economics
Even small differences in economic growth make a big difference to living standards over time. I frequently share this chart, which highlights how long it takes to double economic output based on different growth rates. I also use real-world examples to show how some...
by Dan Mitchell | May 1, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
For the people of China, there’s good news and bad news. The good news, as illustrated by the chart, is that economic freedom has increased dramatically since 1980. This liberalization has lifted hundreds of millions from abject poverty. The bad news is that China...
