Daniel J. Mitchell is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, the free-market, Washington D.C. think tank. His articles are cross-posted on his blog, by agreement.
Another episode of Drug War lunacy
After Orlando police arrested a man for buying a doughnut on the grounds that the sugar glaze on top might have been methamphetamine, it is clear that the war on drugs is getting madder than ever
- 4 September 2016
Nine key takeaways from Brexit
Margaret Thatcher will be smiling down at the good sense of the British voter. The UK has voted to leave a sinking ship. The future is now bright, and Britons should seize the moment, says Dan Mitchell at the Cato Institute in Washington
- 24 June 2016
The economic case for Brexit is overwhelming
A decision to remain in the EU would guarantee a slow, gradual decline. It really isn't smart to link Britain's future to a declining bloc of nations, and the failed, centralising tendencies of Brussels will get much worse if the UK stays. Brexit is the right way to go
- 17 June 2016
Playboy's view on Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians
Do you really know the difference between Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Greens? That great bastion of political science, Playboy, has got all the answers. Very funny and very astute
- 14 May 2016
Milton Friedman, Adam Smith, and other people’s money
Governments are bad at spending money because they are incentivised to spend it badly. At the societal level, this is why big-government economies make their people poor and small government economies achieve prosperity
- 10 May 2016
Panama non-scandal: Three cheers for Cameron's parents
Nobody has an obligation to overpay the government. Tax avoidance also is moral. Tax codes are corrupt and governments waste money. Good on David Cameron's Mum and Dad for doing what we all do. But not quite so good on Dave himself for rank hypocrisy, and being hoist with his own petard
- 12 April 2016
Capitalism rules, socialism drools
Socialism (or statism) always makes people poorer than capitalism. One amazing fact is that statist Venezuela was about three times richer than capitalist South Korea about fifty years ago, but now that ratio is almost reversed. Go figure
- 11 April 2016
The fake controversy over the Panama Papers
The Panama Papers row is just another chapter in the never-ending war by high-tax governments against tax competition, fiscal sovereignty, and financial privacy. David Cameron should have said as much, rather than appearing shifty as he now does over his family tax affairs
- 8 April 2016
Europe, welfare migration, and hypocrisy
It is completely understandable that David Cameron wants to limit welfare access of recent immigrants. But the bigger problem is that welfare dependency is a bad thing in itself, whether one is a recent immigrant or a long-standing citizen
- 9 February 2016
Despite Obama's bragging, his economic legacy is dismal
Which planet is Barack Obama on? He brags about his economic record. Meanwhile, the U.S. is undergoing its weakest recovery since the Great Depression. And being better than Europe is not a matter for pride
- 16 January 2016
Great moments in UK dentistry, or not
Contrary to what Britons are all but indoctrinated to believe, the state-run NHS is not the envy of the world. Now, British dentistry has been castigated for falling to Third World levels
- 5 January 2016
How the minimum wage kills jobs
The evidence is overwhelming that minimum wages cost jobs, especially among young people. So why do politicians, and not just on the Left, ignore that evidence?
- 18 December 2015
Regulation is bad for jobs, good for cronies
The cost of government regulation? Americans spend 8.8 billion hours every year filling out government forms. For every bureaucrat at a regulatory agency, 100 jobs are destroyed in the productive sector
- 27 November 2015
Start-Up Nation: Israel's market reforms
It seems that Israel's tax cuts under Prime Minister Netanyahu provide a real world example of how to increase investment and wealth. Paradoxical as it may sound, phasing out U.S. economic aid may also have made Israelis better off
- 19 November 2015
Is inequality bad if some get richer faster than others?
If we truly care about the interests of the poor, we have to face the reality that inequality does not make their situation worse. On the contrary, there is considerable evidence that unequal societies do a better job of eliminating poverty
- 4 November 2015
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