by Dan Mitchell | Mar 14, 2017 | Blogs, Economics, Health Care
I shared last year a matrix to illustrate Milton Friedman’s great insight about the superior results achieved by markets compared to government. Incentives explain why markets work best. When you spend your own money on yourself (box 1), you try to maximize quality...
by Dan Mitchell | Mar 12, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Health Care
A couple of years ago, filled with disgust at the sleazy corruption of the federal Leviathan, I put forth a simple explanation for what happens in Washington, DC. I call it the “First Theorem of Government,” and I think it accurately reflects the real purpose and...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 26, 2017 | Big Government, Blogs, Health Care, Welfare and Entitlements
The United States is going to become another Greece, and it’s largely because of poorly designed entitlement programs. As the old saying goes, demography is destiny. Let’s look at just one piece of that puzzle. James Capretta of the American Enterprise Institute has a...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 22, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Health Care
With Christmas approaching, people are putting together their lists for Santa Claus. I’m not sure I’ll find any of these things under my tree, but here’s what I want. Get rid of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Shut down the Department of Agriculture....
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 29, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Health Care
Way back in 2009, some folks on the left shared a chart showing that national expenditures on healthcare compared to life expectancy. This comparison was not favorable to the United States, which easily spent the most money but didn’t have concomitantly impressive...
