by Dan Mitchell | Jul 18, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Here’s a new video from the Cato Institute, featuring my pearls of wisdom, along with equally sage commentary from my colleague Chris Edwards. We make two simple points. First, America faces a Greek-style fiscal crisis if we leave the federal budget on autopilot...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 18, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Health Care
The Beacon Hill Institute in Massachusetts has just released a very good – but very depressing study. The research finds that costs have jumped under Romneycare, but that’s not surprising. After all, politicians always underestimate the cost of new entitlements. The...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 16, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
Republicans say (and do) lots of stupid things, but the current fiscal debate has me focused on two specific statements. Both get me very agitated. Indeed, I’m so irritated that all Republican politicians should be fitted with shock collars and then zapped when they...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 15, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
At his press conference today, President Obama repeatedly said that a “balanced approach” is needed to deal with the fiscal situation. The White House has obviously poll-tested and focus-grouped that phrase. But just because it’s gimmicky, that doesn’t mean balance is...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 14, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
The United States has been on a decade-long spending binge. Thanks to the profligate policies of both Bush and Obama, the burden of federal spending has climbed to about 25 percent of economic output, up from 18.2 percent of GDP when Bill Clinton left office. The...