In an article in the Wall Street Journal, “The Right Way to Balance the Budget,” Andrew Biggs, Kevin Hassett and Matt Jensen report that new research of 21 countries over the past 37 years shows that to reduce government debt, a major reduction of spending must be adopted instead of higher taxes. On average,…
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MyGovCost Director Emily Skarbek was a guest on KMED Radio with Bill Myer on Friday, December 17th to discuss the potential financial fall-outs from the latest tax-cut legislation and the importance of personalizing these policies for a clearer understanding of our fiscal conditions. FoxNews is reporting that the latest legislation has produced more favorable…
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Is the title of a new working paper by Peter Boettke and Chris Coyne of George Mason University. The abstract of the paper reads: Writing over 230 years ago, Adam Smith noted the ‘juggling trick’ whereby governments hide the extent of their public debt through ‘pretend payments.’ As the fiscal crises around the world…
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In an article from Reuters, David Lawder reports that a new U.S. Treasury report of cash holdings, “The Financial Report of the United States,” shows that the U.S. government went into greater debt in fiscal year 2010 to the tune of additional $2 trillion. Unfortunately, the report does not include the massive land, minerals,…
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According to Michael Munger, the recent proposals by the deficit commission are DAFT. DAFT is short for “deficits are future taxes” and is a useful analogy to counter the political myths about debt and taxation. “With a total debt of more than $13 trillion, our government is in the midst of forcing the largest…
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As the government of Ireland undergoes scrutiny and criticism for its poorly mismanaged fiscal house, the media risks missing the primary lesson. Poor public sector incentives drive politicians to enact policies that defy the laws of economics. There is no such thing as a free lunch—not even a Keynesian lunch of government issued corn…
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The Government Cost Calculator has been recommended by Lee Doren at OpenMarket.org in “How Much Does Government Spending Cost.” With never-ending increases in government spending, citizens are often curious how much government actually costs them. In response to this question, The Independent Institute has launched MyGovCost.org, that features the personal government cost calculator to…
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The Economist provides an interesting video of Robert Rubin, among a panel of finance and economics experts, participating in a simulation of what a US State financial default might look like. HT: Jeff Hummel
In Tribune Media Services, The Washington Examiner and Townhall.com In his weekly, nationally syndicated column this morning, “GOP’s first order: Extend the Tax Cuts,” Cal Thomas encouraged voters to visit MyGovCost for a “handy” way of getting a clearer perspective on the implications that an expiration of the tax cuts will have on an…
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We’ve been digging through the White House’s budget projections for Fiscal Year 2009, which was produced under President Bush’s tenure, and Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, which were both produced under President Obama’s direction, to compare how much of the U.S. taxpayers’ money each would have planned to spend in the years from 2010…
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