by Dan Mitchell | Sep 13, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
I’m a big fan of fiscal data. In part this is because I’m a policy wonk, but I also like budget numbers because they generally provide strong evidence for my philosophical belief in small government and spending restraint. For instance, I enjoy sharing my table...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 11, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
A new fiscal year starts October 1, and this is terrifying news for Republicans in Washington. They’re scared that if they don’t give Obama everything he wants, they’ll get “blamed” when the President vetoes annual spending bills and shuts down the government. If this...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 8, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Back in 2013, my colleagues at the Cato Institute, Michael Tanner and Charles Hughes, released a study looking at the value of welfare programs in various states. The most shocking finding was that the overall package of welfare benefits was greater than the median...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 29, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
There are eight current or former governors running for the Republican nomination in 2016. In alphabetical order, we have Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Rick Perry, and Scott Walker. So who’s the best of that bunch?...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 27, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Why are many developed nations facing long-run fiscal crisis according to long-run estimates from the IMF, BIS, and OECD? Poorly designed entitlement programs are a big part of the answer, with the United States being an unfortunate example of how fiscal systems...
