by Dan Mitchell | Oct 22, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs
We should fondly remember the great, late Margaret Thatcher for several reasons, most notably because she saved the United Kingdom from economic collapse. I’m especially a fan of her famous observation that socialism fails because, sooner or later, you run out of...
by Dan Mitchell | Oct 5, 2015 | Blogs, Economics
Chile is one of the world’s economic success stories. Reforms in the 1980s and 1990s liberalized the nation’s economy and resulted in rapid increases in economic growth and big reductions in poverty. Unfortunately, the current government is pushing policy in the wrong...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 26, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Welfare and Entitlements
I repeatedly try to convince people that the welfare state is bad for both taxpayers and poor people. Sometimes I’ll add some more detailed economic analysis and explain that redistribution programs undermine growth by reducing labor supply (with Obamacare being the...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 16, 2015 | Blogs, Economics, Taxation
Defenders of Social Security often make a point of stating that the retirement system is a form of “social insurance” because people become eligible for benefits by paying into the system. Welfare programs, by contrast, give money to people simply as a form of income...
by Dan Mitchell | May 21, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Taxation, Welfare and Entitlements
The American Enterprise Institute has published a comprehensive budgetary plan entitled, “Tax and spending reform for fiscal stability and economic growth.” Authored by Joseph Antos, Andrew G. Biggs, Alex Brill, and Alan D. Viard, all of whom I know and admire, this...