by Dan Mitchell | May 9, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
I wrote a detailed blog post yesterday, showing that European governments have been very reluctant to restrain the burden of government spending. Part of the problem is that the debate in Europe is a no-win exercise, pitting proponents of higher taxes (which is...
by Dan Mitchell | May 8, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Government Spending, Keynesian
With both France and Greece deciding to jump out of the left-wing frying pan into the even-more-left-wing fire, European fiscal policy has become quite a controversial topic. But I find this debate and discussion rather tedious and unrewarding, largely because it pits...
by Dan Mitchell | May 6, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Back in 2010, I declared that Olga Stefou was a symbol of everything that’s wrong with the Greek welfare state. She was one of the protesters and – if the story captured her thoughts accurately – she displayed an unlimited entitlement mentality. Sort of helps one...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 28, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
I’ve complained endlessly that America’s fiscal problem is too much spending, and that deficits and debt are best understood as symptoms of that underlying disease. So I’m obviously a big fan of this new video from the folks at Learn Liberty. I like how they use...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 27, 2012 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
I’ve argued, ad nauseam, that the single most important goal of fiscal policy is (or should be) to make sure the private sector grows faster than the government. This “golden rule” is the best way of enabling growth and avoiding fiscal crises, and I’ve cited nations...
