by Dan Mitchell | Jun 15, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, States
As indicated by one of my columns last week, I’m a big believer in federalism. Indeed, I’ve even proposed that Washington shouldn’t operate any social programs. No food stamps. No Medicaid. No redistribution programs of any kind. Such programs, to the extent they...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 3, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending
Should high-tax states such as California and New York get a bailout? I explained last month why that would be a mistake, in large part because bailouts would reward states for irresponsible fiscal policy (similar to my argument that countries like Austria and the...
by Dan Mitchell | May 19, 2020 | Big Government, Blogs, Government Spending, States
Politicians from New York want states to get a big bailout from Uncle Sam. I explained earlier this month that this would be a bad idea. Simply stated, the Empire State is in big trouble because it has a bloated government, not because of the coronavirus. Probably...
by Dan Mitchell | May 1, 2020 | Bailouts, Big Government, Blogs, States
A Supreme Court Justice pointed out in 1932 that “a state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” Well, we’ve had several experiments in higher taxes and higher...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 18, 2020 | Blogs, States
I’ve written that policy makers need to consider both the human toll of the coronavirus and the human toll of a depressed economy. I also discussed this tradeoff with Brian Nichols, beginning about seven minutes into this podcast. And, as you can see from this tweet,...