by Dan Mitchell | Feb 28, 2026 | Blogs, Economics
Back in 2024, J.D. Vance picked a fight with Frederic Bastiat. He lost, unsurprisingly. What Vance did not understand (or pretended not to understand) is that government intervention has “unseen” effects that are almost always negative. Today, let’s...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 15, 2025 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
Economists are lousy forecasters, at least when they try to make specific predictions. But good economists at least can speculate about whether proposed policies will make things better or worse. For instance, Ronald Reagan had the good fortune to...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 16, 2020 | Blogs, Economics, Socialism
Not all bad city governments are alike. In places like Chicago, local politicians generally impose bad policy because they’re buying votes (especially the votes of bureaucrats), not because they’re motivated by ideology. But as you can see from this video, some...
by Dan Mitchell | May 2, 2020 | Blogs, Taxation
What’s the most poorly governed city in the United States? San Francisco, where there are “poop patrols“? Chicago, which is spending itself into oblivion? New York City, home of America’s worst mayor? Those are all good options, but Seattle may deserve this award....
by Dan Mitchell | May 4, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Taxation
I wrote last July about how greedy politicians in Seattle, Washington, were trying to impose a local income tax. That effort has been stymied since there’s anti-income-tax language in the state constitution (Washington is one of nine states without that punitive...
