China has the world’s second-largest GDP, the world’s largest monetary base, and the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves. Its large internal and external economic imbalances can matter a great deal to the global economy. There are claims China is now rebalancing. It isn’t. Claims of rebalancing are based on the …
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of the President’s budget reveals a reckless fiscal plan that shirks the spending cuts in the Budget Control Act and increases spending by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years. It confirms that Obama is the first President to preside over four …
President Obama will release his annual budget proposal late yet again. Choosing the date is not merely a convention. By law, the President must release the budget by the first Monday in February, which falls on February 6 this year. Yet yesterday the Administration announced it will release its fiscal …
The left continues to resist any suggestion of spending cuts right now. In their view, a depressed economy is no time to slash spending; that would only further weaken demand. The successful austerity policies adopted in response to the downturn of 1920, however, offer a clear rebuttal to this notion. …
Free trade advocates can finally rejoice in the long-overdue passage of free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that will benefit U.S. businesses, workers, and consumers. The FTAs will generate an estimated $13 billion in new U.S. exports, a $12 billion increase in U.S. GDP, and 70,000 …
The House Rules Committee advanced three proposals Wednesday that may help curb a growing problem for the nation’s economy: stagnant job growth in the technology sector. The three pending free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama and Korea are up for full House approval next week. Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch …
Reuters has this morning’s bad news on the economic front: The U.S. economy came perilously close to flat-lining in the first quarter and grew at a meager 1.3 percent annual rate in the April-June period as consumer spending barely rose. The Commerce Department data on Friday also showed the current …
China announced its economic results for the first quarter this morning. GDP was said to grow a strong 9.7 percent, while consumer inflation reached a worrisome 5 percent. Frankly, most Americans shouldn’t care that much. China’s economic importance is being overstated now, and even its considerable economic potential is sometimes …
In the week leading up to the G-20 Summit in Toronto this weekend, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has added his voice to the growing discussion about the United States’ recession spending spree. In a response to President Obama’s call for further international recession spending, Schäuble stated “governments should not …
