by Dan Mitchell | Sep 15, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Energy, Government Spending
The President’s “green energy” loan program has turned into an embarrassment for the White House, in part because of the sordid corruption associated with the bankruptcy of Solyndra. But the subsidy program also has attracted some negative attention for its failure to...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 13, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
The Census Bureau has just released the 2010 poverty numbers, and the new data is terrible. There are now a record number of poor people in America, and the poverty rate has jumped to 15.1 percent. But I don’t really blame President Obama for these grim numbers. Yes,...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 8, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
I recently posted four charts eviscerating Obama’s record on jobs. My Cato colleague, Caleb Brown, has a good complement to those charts. He’s put together a short video looking at how government spending and regulation undermine job creation. Caleb says he will be...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 7, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Keynesian
President Obama will be unveiling another “jobs plan” tomorrow night, though Democrats are being careful not to call it stimulus after the failure of the $800 billion package from 2008. But just as a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, bigger government is...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 31, 2011 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation, VAT
I’m normally disappointed when religious figures comment on economics, particularly since they often turn the individual call to charity into a blank check for government-coerced redistribution. This runs contrary to individual choice, free will, and morality. So I’m...