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...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 13, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
One of the first things I learned when coming to Washington is that there is pervasive institutional dishonesty. A classic example is the way politicians have rigged the system so a “spending cut” takes place if the budget grows by, say, 6 percent instead of 8...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 13, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
There are three reasons why I’m not very hopeful about the outcome of the debt-limit battle. 1. There is no unity in the GOP camp. Republicans have been all over the map during this fight. Some of them want a balanced budget amendment. Some want a one-for-one deal of...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 7, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs
There’s lots of talk in Washington about spending cuts, with almost everybody saying that there needs to be at least $2 trillion of cuts in exchange for hiking the debt limit. Since the federal budget is about $3.8 trillion and is riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse,...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 6, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
The President has issued an ultimatum that more tax revenue must be part of budget negotiations. Indeed, he endlessly repeats his desire for a “balanced approach,” implying that as much as 50 percent of the deficit reduction in any agreement should come from higher...
