by Dan Mitchell Having written more than 5000 columns over the past ten-plus years, I’ve learned that policy analysis doesn’t “go viral.” But …
FDR’s New Deal made the Great Depression Worse Not Better
by Dan Mitchell In an interview with an economic organization from India last month, I discussed many of the economic issues associated with …
Environmentalists Don’t Want a Clean Economy – They Want a Communist Economy
An old joke is – environmentalists are watermelons: Green on the outside – red on the inside. Red – as …
Margaret Thatcher on Socialism: 20 of Her Best Quotes
This autumn will mark 30 years since Margaret Thatcher departed 10 Downing Street as the first woman and longest-serving British Prime Minister …
Ranking Economic Liberty in America States, Canadian Provinces, and Mexican States
How does your state stack up? My favorite publication from the Canada-based Fraser Institute is Economic Freedom of the World, which ranks …
Measuring the Impact of 20 Years of Socialism in Venezuela
by Dan Mitchell Fifty years ago, Venezuela was ranked #10 for economic liberty and enjoyed the highest living standards in Latin America Today, …
The federal government hoards so much land it doesn’t even know how much it has
It is well-known that the federal government has a spending problem, but it is less well-known that the government also …
Communism Humor
by Dan Mitchell Time to augment our growing collection of satire about the twin horrors of socialism and communism. Today, we’ll concentrate on …
A Great Moment in Local Government
by Dan Mitchell San Francisco used to be famous for cable cars. Now it’s getting well known for its “poop patrol” and maps …
Two signs we may be heading for economic ‘bloodbath.’ Are you prepared?
The American economy is booming, thanks to tax cuts and a halt to the Obama onslaught of regulations. But two …
A Tribute to Art Laffer
On June 19th, President Trump awarded economist Art Laffer, creator of the Laffer Curve made famous under President Reagan, the …
Cartoon – Tariff Man
It doesn’t seem so difficult to figure out. President Trump threatens tariffs and suddenly Mexico agrees to help stop the …
Understanding the Trade Deficit
by Dan Mitchell In January, I shared a short video about protectionism, which expanded on some analysis from a one-minute video from last year. Today, …
How the Left Misunderstands Free Markets
How did our nation go from having a high-growth economy in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to struggling in …
Margaret Thatcher On Redistribution of Wealth and the Failure of Socialism
The Iron Lady explains why Socialism won’t work. And can’t ever work.
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Which State Has the Best Tax System of All?
Yesterday, I wrote about the newest edition of Economic Freedom of the World, which is my favorite annual publication. Not …
The Second Social Security Crisis
If you did man-on-the-street interviews across America and asked people about Social Security, I suspect most of them would have …
The Chicken War of the 1960s led to higher-priced small trucks.
The other day my daughter, who is moving to Canada, and I were car-hunting at a Volkswagen dealership. During our …
An Amusing Examination of Socialism
I’m a big believer that some images do a great job of capturing an issue. The essential insight of supply-side economics. The …
Lessons from Europe on Welfare, Dependency, and Self-Reliance
America has a major dependency problem. In recent decades, there’s been a significant increase in the number of working-age adults …
Why Reagan Remains Highly Relevant Almost 30 Years Later
Have you noticed? Liberals are counseling conservatives to be “realistic” and no longer look to Ronald Reagan for answers to …
Which country has the same size economy as YOUR state?
Putting America’s enormous $19.4T economy into perspective by comparing US state GDPs to entire countries How important was international trade …
The Incomprehensible Horror of Venezuelan Socialism
It’s now a pattern. I’ll come across a soul-sapping story about terrible suffering caused by statism in Venezuela and I …
The Post Office: Doing All the Wrong Things in All the Wrong Ways
Government is awful at doing…just about everything. In no small part because of the rigid, unyielding dictates of human nature. …
Laughing at Socialism, both in Theory and Practice
I’m tempted to say that statism is sort of like a cult. Proponents of socialism and other big-government ideologies have a dogmatic zeal that …
For the government, on civil asset forfeiture, it’s all about the Benjamins
The Inspectors General of the Department of Justice and Treasury Department have each released a report on the civil asset …
In One Story, Everything You Need to Know about Big Government and Small Business
All things considered, I like small businesses more than big businesses. Not because I’m against large companies, per se, but …
Help Veterans by Abolishing the Veterans Administration and the rest….
by Dan Mitchell With Christmas approaching, people are putting together their lists for Santa Claus. I’m not sure I’ll find any …
No. 1 Choice for elimination? The Insane World of Agriculture Subsidies
I’ve argued before that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) should be the top target of those seeking to shut …
Want a Shortage of Something? Put the Government in Charge of Its Production
The late, inordinately great man and economist Milton Friedman once rightly observed “If you put the federal government in charge of the …