Taxes and Spending

Government likes to put out lots of data showing things like income and employment for huge numbers of people.

Government likes to put out lots of data showing things like income and employment for huge numbers of people. The problem is, this tells us almost nothing about how real-life people are hurt or helped by government intervention.

"Taxes" sounds like a boring subject, but Dan brings great energy and passion to the discussion.

Unable to compete with cheap, government-subsidized services designed for the low end of the market, entrepreneurs find they must turn to higher-end customers who will pay more. Some wrongly interpret this as proof that markets are more expensive than government services.

The drop in gas prices has left households with a little extra money to spend. So naturally, the state thinks it's a great time to raise gas taxes. Otherwise, taxpayers would just waste that money on their families.

States could attract more businesses and jobs by lowering taxes and making government smaller.

States could attract more businesses and jobs by lowering taxes and making government smaller. But since governments hate cutting taxes and regulations, they instead choose to lure new firms with temporary tax breaks and special favors.

Reducing government spending results in an immediate increase in welfare for all productive members of the economy. But, the way we calculate economic growth is rigged to make it look like more government spending fuels economic growth. 

Keynesians believe that more government spending leads to more economic growth, but in addition to crowding out productive enterprises, government spending necessitates the transfer of wealth from the productive class to the government class.

Those who voted for the omnibus to avoid a shutdown fail to grasp that the consequences of blindly expanding government are far worse than the cons