by Dan Mitchell | Aug 2, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
I wrote last month that the debt burden in Greece doesn’t preclude economic recovery. After all, both the United States and (especially) the United Kingdom had enormous debt burdens after World War II, yet those record levels of red ink didn’t prevent growth. Climbing...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 30, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Not all birthdays are a cause for untrammeled joy. Most of us baby boomers, for instance, don’t like being reminded that we’re getting older. And for folks who follow fiscal policy, the fact that Medicare is now 50 years old is hardly a cause for celebration.That’s...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 29, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Remember the big debt limit fight of 2013? The political establishment at the time went overboard with hysterical rhetoric about potential instability in financial markets. They warned that a failure to increase the federal government’s borrowing authority would mean...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 27, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
When giving speeches outside the beltway, I sometimes urge people to be patient with Washington. Yes, we need fundamental tax reform and genuine entitlement reform, but there’s no way Congress can make those changes with Obama in the White House. But there are some...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 24, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
The conventional wisdom, pushed by the IMF and others, is that Greece’s economy will never recover unless there is substantial debt relief. Translated into English, that means the Greek government should be allowed to break the contracts it made with the people and...
