After yesterday’s Senate vote against an earmark ban, we again made the case that the damage earmarks do to our nation’s deficits go far beyond the nominal amounts spent on the earmarks themselves. The problem is that the votes earmarks secure from the sponsoring legislators then allow for ever higher …
Both liberals and conservatives agree that Social Security’s coming fiscal problems need to be addressed soon or they will only grow worse. A recent analysis for the Pew Charitable Trusts by Charles Blahous, one of the two public trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, and Robert Greenstein, …
Last week, the co-chairs of the President’s deficit commission released a report of possible proposals for the commission’s final report. Recommendations included cuts to discretionary, mandatory, and defense spending as well as tax increases. The report was a good start to the debate and will gauge the readiness of lawmakers …
In the ongoing discussion on how best to address the nation’s out-of-control deficit spending, one proposal would increase taxes by adding a value-added tax (VAT) on top of the current tax system. Proponents argue that a new tax on consumption would raise the needed revenues to close the deficit gap …
Next January, tax rates will increase—even though the country remains in a recession—unless Congress takes action. The Obama Administration’s solution is to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts except for families earning $250,000 and individuals earning $200,000. But is this the right move from an economic perspective, and the …
In a rather confessional tone, Jeffrey Sachs declared in his recent op-ed: The global fiscal stimulus championed last year by the Obama administration is coming undone, repudiated by the same Group of 20 that endorsed it last year. Now, against a backdrop of a widening sovereign debt crisis, we need …
The typically staid pages of the Washington Post Business Section were graced this morning with subtle humor from the virtual pen of the ever-sober, oft sagacious Steven Pearlstein. In a piece titled “Keeping an open mind on solutions to the budget deficit”, Pearlstein neatly lays out the argument one typically …
House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) was quoted in The Hill earlier this week discussing the country’s economic outlook. Despite the President’s recent efforts to talk about savings, Rep. Clyburn took a different tack, saying that “wouldn’t help alleviate the recession.” He added, “We’re not going to save our way out of this recession. We’ve got to spend our way out of this recession, and I think most economists know that.”
