by Dan Mitchell | Apr 12, 2013 | Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
If you include all the appendices, there are thousands of pages in the President’s new budget. But the first thing I do every year is find the table showing how fast the burden of government spending will increase. That’s Table S-1 of the budget, and it shows that the...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 7, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Government Spending, Keynesian
Statists are in a tough position. For years, they’ve been saying the United States should be more like Europe. And, as shown in these very funny cartoons by Michael Ramirez and Bob Gorrell, President Obama is a cheerleader for that effort. But now Europe’s welfare...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 6, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
Are we about to see a new kinder-and-gentler Obama? Has the tax-and-spend President of the past four years been replaced by a fiscal moderate? That’s certainly the spin we’re getting from the White House about the President’s new budget. Let’s look at this theme,...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 5, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
It’s been more than three weeks since I targeted French fiscal policy for abuse and more than one week since I wrote something negative about the French fiscal system. I must be slowing down as I get older, so it’s time of rectify this oversight. My fundamental...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 2, 2013 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Laffer Curve, Taxation
Back in 2010, I wrote a post entitled “What’s the Ideal Point on the Laffer Curve?“ Except I didn’t answer my own question. I simply pointed out that revenue maximization was not the ideal outcome. I explained that policy makers instead should seek to maximize...
