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,…
Read More »
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…
Read More »
In the Wall Street Journal, Jeff Bater reports in “U.S. Posts $150.4 Billion November Budget Deficit,” that federal red ink is reaching an all-time record: The U.S. government ran its 26th straight monthly budget deficit in November amid wrangling over a package that would extend big tax cuts to Americans trying to recover from…
Read More »
The Federal Times reports in “Federal pay freeze plan wouldn’t stop raises” that President Obama’s claimed, 2-year “pay freeze” does nothing of the sort, but instead will result in 1.1 million employees receiving from 2.6 to 3.3 percent increases in wages or more than $2.5 billion in pay raises. (Military and legislative branch personnel…
Read More »
The Washington Post reports that the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has come up with a plan to address the nation’s fiscal house of cards. The major points of the plan include: Deficit reductions by nearly $4 trillion over the next decade Large reductions in discretionary spending Tax code reform He hits…
Read More »
In shocking new disclosures, the Washington Post has reported in an article, “Fed aid in financial crisis went beyond U.S. banks to industry, foreign firms,” that in 2008 and 2009 the Federal Reserve created trillions of dollars in corporate welfare as secret bailouts “not just to Wall Street but also to motorcycle makers, telecom…
Read More »
In a new article in the Wall Street Journal, Independent Institute Senior Fellow Richard Vedder and Journal Senior Economics Writer Stephen Moore explain why “Higher Taxes Won’t Reduce the Deficit: History shows that when Congress gets more revenue, the pols spend it”: The draft recommendations of the president’s commission on deficit eduction call for…
Read More »
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…
Read More »
In response to growing public opposition to the gigantic spending by the federal government, President Barack Obama in 2009 called on his Cabinet to identify a combined $100 million dollars in budget cuts compared to the $3.5 trillion federal budget as a whole (not including the $787 “stimulus package” or the $83 billion in…
Read More »
How can the government increase the amount of money it collects in taxes without increasing tax rates? Or rather, for politicians looking to remain as blameless as possible when their constituents get their new, higher tax bills, how can they make it look like they’re not increasing taxes when they’re taking more in taxes?…
Read More »
 |
 |
 |