by Dan Mitchell | Mar 23, 2021 | Big Government, Blogs
I’ve been warning that the United States should not copy Europe’s fiscal policy, largely because living standards are significantly lower in nations with large welfare states. That’s true if you look at average levels of consumption in...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 15, 2021 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Taxation
The 21st century has been bad news for proponents of limited government. Bush was a big spender, Obama was a big spender, Trump was a big spender, and now Biden also wants to buy votes with other people’s money. That’s the bad news. The good news...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 30, 2019 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
I point out in this interview that the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) was the only big victory for taxpayers this century. It imposed spending caps on discretionary spending and led to a sequester in early 2013, which was Barack Obama’s biggest defeat. The bad news is...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 28, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
I wrote yesterday about the continuing success of Switzerland’s spending cap. Before voters changed the Swiss constitution, overall expenditures were growing by an average of 4.6 percent annually. Ever since the “debt brake” took effect, though, government spending...
by Dan Mitchell | May 29, 2018 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
I wrote two days ago about how the country of Georgia has achieved impressive economic performance thanks to major reforms to reduce the size and scope of government. Indeed, Georgia jumped from #56 to #8 in Economic Freedom of the World between 2004 and 2015, a...