by Dan Mitchell | May 26, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
Venezuela is falling apart. Decades of bad policy have produced economic stagnation and misery. On the other side of South America, Chile has enjoyed comparatively strong growth since reforms began in the 1980s. Can we learn lessons by comparing these two nations?...
by Dan Mitchell | Apr 11, 2016 | Blogs, Economics, Free Market
I don’t care whether it’s called socialism, fascism, or communism, statism is evil and destructive. And going partway down that path with “democratic socialism” may avoid brutality, but the end result is still economic misery. In hopes of getting this point across, I...
by Dan Mitchell | Feb 18, 2016 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics
According to a “Happy Planet” index put together by some leftists a few years ago, Venezuela is supposed to be one of the world’s best nations. But I strongly suspect that the vast majority of these people would be horrified if they actually had to live there. That’s...
by Dan Mitchell | May 27, 2015 | Blogs, Economics
Over the years, I’ve had many arguments about economic policy with my statist friends. I put them into three categories. The completely unreasonable statists blindly assert, notwithstanding all the evidence around the world, that bigger government and more...
by Dan Mitchell | Jun 15, 2014 | Big Government, Blogs, Bureaucracy, Health Care
I’ve written a couple of serious posts about the death panels at the VA’s government-run health facilities. I think it’s particularly important to understand that the problem has nothing to do with funding levels. Instead, it’s about the chronic inefficiency of...