Yesterday The New York Times published the results of a poll on how to cut the national deficit. Interestingly, a majority of people think necessary action is needed, the deficit can be reduced without increasing taxes, and it is necessary to cut back on programs they benefit from. Cause for optimism? I think not….
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In a January 19th article in the Wall Street Journal, “What Congress Should Cut,” former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe propose abolishing “the Departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development, end farm subsidies, and end urban mass transit grants, for starters.” The primary economic challenge today is…
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Independent Institute Senior Fellow Richard K. Vedder, a member of the Council of Economic Advisors for the Institute’s Government Cost Calculator, was interviewed by International PressTV on January 12th. In the interview, Dr. Vedder explains that President Obama has done nothing to rectify either the U.S. or international debt crisis. Indeed, under the Obama…
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The answer is illustrated below: The United States’ total public debt outstanding was approximately $13.562 trillion at the end of the government’s fiscal year on 30 September 2010. As of 4 January 2011, the United States’ total public debt outstanding exceeds 14 trillion dollars. Despite that near half-billion dollar increase, the percentage composition of…
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Jill Lawless at the Associated Press reports that British Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to “save money and cut red tape by giving control over management to family practitioners rather than bureaucrats, and allow private companies, charities and social enterprises to bid for contracts within the public health service.” Will Great Britain indeed…
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Governor Jerry Brown is proposing measures to balance the California state budget, including cutting $12.5 billion in spending and extending $12 billion in expiring taxes. The politically ambitious move from the new governor involves a sequencing of three legislative parts. The legislature would pass spending cuts, voters would then be able to vote in…
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In his new column syndicated by Creators Syndicate, “Are politicians serious about spending cuts?”, John Stossel asks the key question about whether Washington is really going to address the gigantic, federal government spending and debt crisis that continues to mount: Last year, I reported that the United States fell from sixth to eighth place…
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Over at Economix, Casey Mulligan has a nice illustration of Austan Goolsbee’s approach to economic planning. In essence, targeted means of stimulating investment (say, with New Homebuyer tax credits) don’t work to increase investment, and thereby employment, in the short-run. Rather these types of subsidies have drive up prices for current asset owners—constituting windfall…
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Just in time for the end of 2010, the Associated Press released a story suggesting that retired Medicare beneficiaries are being promised way more in medical care than what than they’ll have paid for during their working careers: What you paid in Medicare taxes shows up on your W-2 income tax form every year….
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Michael Snyder reports on seventeen statistics on the unsustainable nature of reckless U.S. government spending and debt. 1. As of December 28th, 2010, the U.S. national debt was $13,877,230,355,933.00. 2. If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it…
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