by Dan Mitchell | Sep 23, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
As we get deeper into an election season, many politicians feel compelled to discuss how to deal with poverty. And some of them may even be serious about trying to improve the system. This hopefully will lead to big-picture discussions of key issues, such as why the...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 8, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Europe, Government Spending, Welfare and Entitlements
Back in 2013, my colleagues at the Cato Institute, Michael Tanner and Charles Hughes, released a study looking at the value of welfare programs in various states. The most shocking finding was that the overall package of welfare benefits was greater than the median...
by Dan Mitchell | Sep 3, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
Like Sisyphus pushing the rock up a hill, I keep trying to convince my leftist friends that growth is the best way to help the poor. I routinely share new evidence and provide real-world data in hopes that they will realize that good results are more important than...
by Dan Mitchell | Aug 8, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Welfare and Entitlements
For both policy reasons and narcissism, I wish the most popular item ever posted on International Liberty was Mitchell’s Golden Rule. But that guide to sensible fiscal policy isn’t even in the top 70. Instead, my most-read post is a set of cartoons showing how the...
by Dan Mitchell | Jul 17, 2015 | Big Government, Blogs, Economics, Europe, Government Spending
I suggested a couple of months ago that the economic turmoil in Greece and Venezuela is somewhat akin to a real-life version of Atlas Shrugged. And I’ve also used that analogy when writing about France and Detroit. But I’m probably not doing justice to Ayn Rand’s...