News
CNN Money | Goolsbee: Spending cuts won't close budget gap
Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said that stronger economic growth, including an emphasis on doubling exports, is the best way to address the deficit.
CNS News | Hoyer Says Federal Budget May Not Be Balanced for 20 Years
Hoyer noted that even his 20-year estimate was based on a robustly growing economy that would allow the government to take in a normal level of tax revenue instead of the reduced revenue it expects to take in during a recession.
CNN Money | National debt: 'Time for gridlock is over'
As lawmakers continued to butt heads over how much spending should be cut over the next seven months, a few senators on Tuesday were trying to keep the focus where they think it belongs -- the next several decades.
Politico | Reid: Save frederal funding for the cowboy poets!
In the middle of his tirade against House Republicans' "mean-spirited" budget bill on the Senate floor Tuesday, the Senate Majority Leader lamented that the GOP’s proposed budget cuts would eliminate the annual "cowboy poetry festival” in his home state of Nevada.
Fox News | Senate to Vote on Rival GOP, Democratic Budgets
In a demonstration of official Washington's often curious logic, the Senate is expected to vote down both a slashing GOP budget bill and a less painful Democratic plan to demonstrate progress instead of gridlock.
CNN Money | IRS budget in the crosshairs
The Republican spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year would strip the IRS of $600 million in funding -- including $285 million from the agency's enforcement budget.
Fox News | AIG repays $6.9 billion to bailout program
AIG has now paid back $9.1 billion of the $68 billion in bailout funds it received from the government at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
WSJ | China's Debt Burden Limits Policy Leeway
...including the debts of local governments and many parts of the state-owned banking sector, as many economists say is proper, shows the constraints facing Beijing in the fight against inflation, its top economic priority.
Fiscal Times | EU Debt Crisis Mounts as Market Strains Portugal
Europe's government debt crisis has flared up again in the run-up to two crucial meetings of EU leaders as Portugal had to pay 50 percent more to raise cash in the markets on Wednesday than it had to just six months ago.
Econ Comments
New American | Touted Savings in Spending Proposals Misleading
Once analysts cut to the real savings, however, Republicans have the Democrats beat by a mile, having proposed $61 billion in savings versus the Democrats' $8.7 billion.
NRO | Zandinomics
In his model, the multiplier is greater than one. This means that when government builds that bridge, not only does the bridge not really cost us anything, but building it generates additional resources that we can use to stimulate private consumption and investment: The free lunch includes a free dessert.
Blogs
NRO: Lou Dolinar | The Bullet Train to Bankruptcy
…[Californians] appear to be questioning the High-Speed Rail Authority, which voters empowered in 2008 to issue $9.95 billion in bonds and build the nation’s largest such system.
Mercatus Center: Neighborhood Effects | Entitlement, Entitlements, Entitlements
Because we are borrowing so much to pay for these programs, our interest payments begin to climb…and climb…and climb.
NRO: Jim Lacey | A Modest Fiscal Proposal
[D]o you have an infant? If you do, her share of the government debt is now $45,000.
Bankrupting America | The federal budget war: FY 2011 continuing resolution
On March 8, the Senate is expected to take up two versions of a long-term CR. One is the Republican House-passed version and one is version written by Democrats in the Senate. If the House version passes, lawmakers have a long-term deal on their hands.
Cato@Liberty | Spending Growth: Nondefense Discretionary
Nondefense discretionary spending accounts for approximately 17 percent of total federal spending.
NRO: The Corner | ‘No Way Out’ of Debt Trap
...these projections, which show an explosion in the amount of money needed to service our debt, underestimate the problem, since any decrease in economic growth resulting from higher interest rates — or any other cause — is not accounted for.
Cato@Liberty | Federal Budget Cap at 3%
Limiting spending growth to 3 percent is a modest goal, but over time the results would be quite dramatic compared to Obama’s no-reform spending plan.
