The expenditures are often costly privileges for special interests that mask the true size of government and fail to deliver the promised bang for the buck.
Some policymakers now say the federal government's stake in Intel should be a "down payment" on a U.S. sovereign wealth fund. The idea is terrible.
The president's clear attempt to interfere in the Federal Reserve is not a one-off crisis.
They are among the worst taxes imaginable—narrow, arbitrary, unstable, and regressive.
A report affirms that greenhouse gases are warming the planet, but it also found no convincing evidence that U.S. hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or droughts have become more frequent or intense in recent decades.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CBO, and the Fed are far from perfect. But the U.S. needs a statistical system that is modern, agile, and protected from political interference.
It's time to ask what level of spending Americans truly want with the money we actually have.
The executive branch wants to use the Federal Reserve as a tool to accommodate the government's frenzy of reckless borrowing.
Green energy is promising. But subsidies distort the tax code, misallocate capital, and favor companies already in the game.
In a bill packed with spending, one provision offers real gains for health care choice and savings.
This is what Washington calls compromise: The House proposes $1, the Senate proposes $2, and somehow, the government ends up spending $3.
Other countries have taken meaningful steps to address similar challenges. The U.S. has done nothing.
A Biden-era rule mandates two-person freight crews. But the government admits it lacks evidence that is necessary—and is instead relying on "common sense."
The budget legislation is full of other expensive provisions that will add trillions to our sky-high national debt.
A new comprehensive review finds the negative effects of trade with China have been significantly exaggerated.
If the Trump administration fails to implement real reform, Main Street taxpayers could once again be conscripted into subsidizing lucrative Wall Street deals.
The lesson from the Moody's credit downgrade is that the U.S. cannot borrow its way to prosperity.
The administration shows no coherent commitment to free market principles and is in fact actively undermining them.
We don't need more of the same. We need evidence of a serious turnaround.
If anything, they sabotage the very forces—dynamism, adaptability, innovation—that create the economic opportunities struggling workers need.
Far from delivering industrial renewal, Trump's tariffs have already led to layoffs at manufacturing plants.
The government currently collects revenue in an arbitrary and distortionary manner, with loopholes that benefit special groups.
Lower-income families who spend the largest shares of their income on goods—and who have been badly hurt from the recent inflation—will likely suffer the most.
Our manufacturing output, even adjusted for inflation, is near all-time highs.
More education dollars are funding more bureaucrats, who, by and large, are not improving student outcomes.
Since Congress began requiring annual audits in 2018, the Department of Defense has never passed.
Entitlements are a much bigger expense, but that doesn't mean the waste doesn't matter.
If the Department of Government Efficiency goes about this the wrong way, we could be left with both a presidency on steroids and no meaningful reduction in government.
At the current rate of inflation, the dollar will lose 33 cents of purchasing power within a decade.
It tries to offset as much as $4.8 trillion—mostly for tax cut extensions—with only $1.5 trillion in supposed spending reductions.
The agency—an unelected regulator with a blank check—has spent much of its short life making things harder for the consumers it set out to protect.
Even if the Department of Government Efficiency eliminates all improper payments and fraud, we'll still be facing a debt explosion—which requires structural reform.
"Personnel is policy" has shaped past administrations. Kevin Hassett, who has been tapped to lead the National Economic Council, will have a hand in tax reform, debt reduction, and more.
The stark disconnect not only runs the risk of choking off much of the global commerce the president claims to welcome but threatens to stick U.S. consumers and businesses with higher costs.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
This rogue agency stifles innovation, drives up costs, and infantilizes consumers—all while operating without accountability.
Not doing so could be harmful for just about everyone.
For all the excitement about the incoming administration and a return to the 2019 economy, market stability rests on the precarious assumption that the government will eventually put its fiscal house in order.
With inflation risks persisting and entitlement spending surging, the situation cannot be ignored. But we never should have gotten to this point to begin with.
The high cost of complying with our tax code encourages wasteful tax avoidance strategies and distorts work and investment decisions.
Privatization isn't about cutting corners; it's about unleashing and leveraging the ingenuity and competitiveness of the private sector to deliver better services at lower costs.
By one account, regulations cost American households over $15,000 per year. Here's hoping DOGE can help.
Doing nothing will lead to Medicare benefits being cut by 11 percent and Social Security Benefits being cut by 23 percent in less than a decade.
Most people don't realize it, but if you're a U.S. citizen, the IRS wants to know about all the money you earn, no matter where in the world you earn it.
Despite its enormous budget and vast regulatory powers, the agency has failed to detect major frauds while wasting time and money on relatively useless disclosures.
Trump is talking about cutting government spending, but that's mostly in Congress' hands.
From art to vice to games and maybe a little magic, Reason's staff is here to help you with your gift giving.
In the Abolish Everything issue, Reason writers make the case for ending the DEA, ICE, the SBA, and everything else.
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan used the state to achieve political aims that have nothing to do with keeping markets competitive. J.D. Vance has said she's done "a good job."
