News
CNN Money | N.J. governor wants workers to pay more for benefits
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie introduced a $29.4 billion budget Tuesday that demands many concessions from state workers, as well as cuts spending and taxes.
MSNBC | Reid proposes 30-day bill to avert shutdown
Boehner says House will not pass stopgap plan at current spending rates.
CNN Money | Michigan approves plan to close half of Detroit schools
The goal is to eliminate the school system's current $327 million budget deficit, according to the plan's author, Robert Bobb, who was named emergency financial manager of the 87,000-student Detroit Public Schools in 2009.
Econ Comments
NRO | Stay Unreasonable
The budget cuts of 2011 have to be defended if the real work of 2012 is to have any chance.
Washington Times | SCOTT: Florida ups the Wisconsin ante
Cuts government, reforms unions and slashes taxes, aiming for growth.
CNN Money | Delay on debt ceiling comes at a cost
The Government Accountability Office, which issued the new report, reviewed some of the "extraordinary" actions Treasury took in the past to keep the debt from hitting the ceiling, which has been raised 12 times since 1995.
Blogs
NRO: The Corner | Social Security Is Part of the Problem
The current projections say that in 2015, the Social Security Trust Funds will run out of cash and the program will begin permanently paying out more benefits than it collects in taxes.
The Economist: Buttonwood's notebook | Do I hear $202 trillion?
[Kotlikoff's] calculation is that the Federal debt is not $8bn as the (net) figure officially states but $202 trillion.
Fox News | With Congress "Not Even Close" on Debt Reduction, Paul Tackles Entitlement Reform
...the senator said he intends, "in the next week or two," to introduce "a plan to reform Social Security where it will be solvent in perpetuity."
Heritage Foundation | Morning Bell: Government Unions vs American Taxpayers
Recent studies show that state and local governments are severely underestimating their pension and benefit promises, including a $574 billion shortfall for the nation’s top major cities and a possible $3.4 trillion shortfall for the states.
