by Dan Mitchell | Feb 28, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation
I sometimes sardonically comment about Democratic politicians playing Santa Claus, but Republicans can play that game as well. Trump and his allies in Congress recently agreed on a big-spending budget deal that lavishes more money on both the Pentagon and domestic...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 11, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
One of the great insights of “public choice” is that politicians engage in self-serving behavior just like everyone else. But there’s a profound difference between them and us. In the private economy, we can only make ourselves better off by providing value to...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 9, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending
The biggest victory for taxpayers during the Obama years was the Budget Control Act in 2011, which imposed sequester-enforced caps on discretionary spending. Indeed, that legislation was then followed by a sequester in early 2013, which was a stinging defeat for Obama...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 8, 2018 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
I strongly applauded the tax reform plan that was enacted in December, especially the lower corporate tax rate and the limit on the deduction for state and local taxes. But I’m not satisfied. Our long-run goal should be fundamental tax reform. And that means replacing...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 11, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
This is depressing. Republicans botched the repeal of Obamacare. They’ve already sold out (twice!) on the spending caps in the Budget Control Act, and they’re about to do it again. And now they want to bring back earmarks. In this interview with Neil Cavuto, I explain...
