by Dan Mitchell | Dec 29, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
If you like to go along to get along, I suggest you don’t become a libertarian. At least not if you follow politics or work in Washington. Otherwise, you’re doomed to a life of endlessly pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. Here are three examples. 1. When...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 25, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
Jay Leno had the all-time best Christmas joke and the school bureaucrats in Haymarket, VA, win the prize for the all-time worst example of anti-Christmas lunacy. But I must win the prize for being the biggest Christmas policy dork. I make this confession freely...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 20, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
The welfare state is a nightmare. Programs such as Medicaid are fiscal catastrophes. The food stamp program is riddled with waste. The EITC is easily defrauded, even sending checks to prisoners. And housing subsidies are a recipe for the worst forms of social...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 14, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
When you work in Washington (and assuming you haven’t been corrupted), you run the risk of being endlessly outraged about all the waste. But not all waste is created equal. Some examples are so absurd that they deserve special attention. Forcing taxpayers to pay...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 12, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
How Disappointing, but how predictable. Politicians approved legislation in 2011 that was supposed to impose a modest bit of spending restraint over the next 10 years. It wasn’t much. The enforcement mechanism, known as sequestration, merely was supposed to guarantee...