by Dan Mitchell | Sep 6, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs
Since I’ve been warning for more than a decade about weaknesses in China’s economy, I’m not surprised by the surge in stories about that nation’s grim economic outlook. The problem is statism. To be more specific, China suffers from...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 30, 2023 | Blogs, Europe
When I write about bad French policy, I’m usually referring to fiscal problems such as excessive spending and onerous taxation. Such as a retirement system with full benefits available at an absurdly low age (even after the recent reform). Or...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 26, 2023 | Blogs, Economics
Industrial policy is when politicians use subsidies, mandates, protectionism, and other forms of intervention to provide unearned benefits to a specific companies and/or specific industries. The politicians claim that the free enterprise system somehow...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 4, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs
Based on economic policy, was Richard Nixon America’s worst president? Or was it Herbert Hoover? How about Lyndon Johnson? And let’s not forget Woodrow Wilson. Those are all plausible options, but there’s a strong case to be made that Franklin...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 27, 2023 | Blogs, Taxation
At the start of the year, I wrote that so-called tax expenditures were a “boring but important issue.” Well, it’s time to once again put readers to sleep. Let’s start with a definition. A tax expenditure is basically a loophole in the tax code. And these...
