by Dan Mitchell | Jul 4, 2019 | Blogs, Taxation, Trade
For my annual Independence Day columns, I sometimes try to make serious points, such as last year when I shared the very wise words of Calvin Coolidge, who is probably America’s most-underappreciated president. Or when I wrote about the proper meaning of patriotism,...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 3, 2019 | Blogs, Taxation, Trade
What’s worse, a politician who knowingly supports bad policy or a politician who actually thinks that bad policy is good policy? I was very critical of the Bush Administration (I’m referring to George W. Bush, but the same analysis applies to George H.W. Bush) because...
by Dan Mitchell | May 31, 2019 | Blogs, Economics, Trade
I periodically deal with people who generally sympathize with capitalism but nonetheless are supportive of protectionism. In part, they incorrectly think that a “trade deficit” is a problem that must be fixed. In other cases, they don’t understand the economic...
by Dan Mitchell | May 16, 2019 | Blogs, Economics
I shared a video last year that pointed out that Americans live in a nation that became prosperous thanks to “creative destruction.” That’s the term developed by Joseph Schumpeter to describe the economic churning caused by competition, innovation, and markets...
by Dan Mitchell | May 9, 2019 | Blogs, Trade
When I want to feel optimistic about China, I look at data from Economic Freedom of the World to confirm that there was a lot of economic liberalization (triggered in part by some civil disobedience) between 1980 and the early 2000s. Then I look at how that period of...
