Spending Our Way to Stagnation | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary

Spending Our Way to Stagnation | Daniel J. Mitchell | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Any money that the government puts in the economy's right pocket must be borrowed, which means the money comes out of the economy's left pocket. Keynesianism doesn't boost national income, it merely redistributes it."

"Most studies using current economic data show that economic performance is maximized when the public sector is less than 20% of GDP. And if historical data is used, the evidence suggests that government should be even smaller."

Ironically, John Maynard Keynes might not be a Keynesian if he was alive today. He certainly would not be a proponent of big government. In correspondence with another British economist, he agreed with the premise of '25% [of GDP] as the maximum tolerable proportion of taxation.'"