If Even the International Monetary Fund Acknowledges the Laffer Curve, Why Doesn’t Obama Realize that Higher Tax Rates are All Pain and No Gain?

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 27, 2012 | Blogs, Economics, Laffer Curve, Taxation

I speculated last year that the political elite finally might be realizing that higher tax rates are not the solution to Greece’s fiscal situation. Simply stated, you can only squeeze so much blood out of a stone, and pushing tax rates higher cripples growth and...

Should the IRS Be Squandering $15 Million on P.R. Flacks to Improve its Image?

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 22, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste

The overwhelming fiscal policy challenge for America is entitlement programs, as I explain in this set of videos. To protect America from becoming another Greece, we need personal retirement accounts for Social Security. We need vouchers for Medicare. And we need to...

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...

According to Obama’s Budget, Burden of Federal Spending Will Be $2 Trillion Higher in 10 Years

by Dan Mitchell | Feb 13, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending

President Obama’s budget proposal was unveiled today, generating all sorts of conflicting statements from both parties. Some of the assertions wrongly focus on red ink rather than the size of government. Others rely on dishonest Washington budget math, which means...

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...