by Dan Mitchell | Dec 24, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste
I wrote yesterday that the Trump tax plan is yielding significant benefits, but one of my caveats at the end of the column warned that Trump’s weak record on spending undermines the long-run sustainability of lower tax rates. The latest example of Trump’s profligacy...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 22, 2019 | Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste
Way back in early 2016, I asked whether Donald Trump believed in smaller government. A few months later, I concluded that the answer was no. Trump – like Bush and Nixon – was a big-government Republican. I wish that I was wrong. But if you look at the budget deal he...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 24, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Bureaucracy
The Bureaucrat Hall of Fame recognizes government employees who go above and beyond the call of duty in terms of getting over-paid or being under-worked. Or both. Adding insult to injury, many recipients of this award are employed by bureaucracies that shouldn’t even...
by Dan Mitchell | May 17, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Government Waste
Every so often, I’ll see a story (or sometimes even just a photo, a court decision, or a phrase) that sums up the essence of government – a unseemly combination of venality and incompetence. Today, we’re going to review three examples that make my point. We’ll lead...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 21, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Waste
When asked to pick the worst international bureaucracy, I generally respond as follows. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) should be at the top of the list. Both of those bureaucracies aggressively...
