by Dan Mitchell | Feb 4, 2019 | Blogs, Economics
There are several options if you want to measure economic freedom and competitiveness among nations (rankings from the Fraser Institute, Heritage Foundation, and World Economic Forum). You also have many choices if you want to measure economic freedom and...
by Dan Mitchell | Jan 28, 2019 | Blogs, Taxation
I’ve periodically opined about why politicians should not try to control people’s behavior with discriminatory taxes, such as the ones being imposed on soda. And I’ve cited some examples of how these taxes backfire. The big drop in soda purchases after a tax on sugary...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 26, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
I often write about the failure of government. The federal government launched a multi-trillion dollar War on Poverty and the poverty rate, which had been consistently falling, now is stuck around 13 percent. Governments at all levels have pumped ever-increasing...
by Dan Mitchell | Nov 19, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Regulations
I wrote back in 2011 about a bizarre plan in California to regulate babysitting. You may be thinking that’s no big deal because California is…well…California. But other governments also want to control private child care decisions. The latest example is from the...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 3, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs
Back in 2012, I was both amused and horrified to learn that the Greek government actually required entrepreneurs to submit…um…stool samples if they wanted to set up online companies. Well, there’s apparently a surplus of that…er…material on the streets of San...
