by Dan Mitchell | Aug 18, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Government Waste
The latest issue of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report contains some rather damning information about government incompetence in the United States. America ranks only 68th in the “Wastefulness of Government Spending” category (page 373) and 49th...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 15, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs
While the case for minimal government is very strong, that doesn’t mean that there are easy answers for every question. For instance, we know that markets will – over time – penalize people who discriminate. A merchant or employer who deliberately shuns women, blacks,...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 14, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Regulations
The governments of Spain, Italy, Belgium and (of course) France recently imposed 15-day bans on “short selling,” which means they are prohibiting people from making investments that would be profitable if certain stocks fall in value. According to the politicians, the...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 11, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
Tomorrow, August 12, will be a wonderful day. Based on calculations from Americans for Tax Reform, we will have finally worked long enough to finance the total cost of government for 2011. This means the money we earn for the rest of the year will be for the benefit...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 11, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Monetary Policy, Taxation
Allen Meltzer, an economist at Carnegie Mellon University, writes today in the Wall Street Journal about the Fed’s worrisome announcement that it will continue the easy-money policy of artificially low interest rates. Professor Meltzer’s key point (at least to me) is...
