by Dan Mitchell | Oct 20, 2024 | Blogs, Economics
With hurricane season (hopefully) coming to a close, this is a good opportunity to share this video from John Stossel about the absurdity of government-subsidized insurance in flood-prone areas. Kudos to Rand Paul for addressing this issue. It’s a textbook case of...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 10, 2024 | Blogs, Economics
Why do politicians such as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris show no interest in fixing Social Security and other entitlement programs? The answer is “public choice.” They are focused on maximizing votes and power in the short run...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 23, 2023 | Big Government, Blogs
Perverse housing subsidies from two corrupt government-created entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, played a huge role in causing the 2008 financial meltdown. Yes, bad monetary policy from the Federal Reserve provided the fuel, but...
by Dan Mitchell | Dec 10, 2022 | Big Government, Blogs
Back during the TARP bailout of Wall Street, a clever person created a satirical bailout application form. It was amusing, of course, but also made a serious point about “moral hazard,” which is what happens when government policy rewards bad behavior. I’m...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 25, 2022 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending
I wrote yesterday to speculate about a possible fiscal crisis in Italy. Today, here are my thoughts on why there should not be a bailout if/when a crisis occurs. I have moral objections to bailouts, but let’s focus in this column on the practical impact. And let’s...
