News
Politico | GOP escalates debt-limit demands
...House Majority Leader Eric Cantor fired off a stark warning to Democrats that the GOP “will not grant their request for a debt limit increase” without major spending cuts or budget process reforms.
CNS News | Federal Borrowing on Pace to Hit Debt Limit in Less Than Week
In a 31-day month, $125 billion in new debt works out to an average of $4.03 billion in new debt per day. At that pace, the $25.635 billion in legal borrowing authority the Treasury had left at the close of business on Tuesday would be exhausted in less than seven days.
Washington Post | Even in an era of budget cuts, these government programs won’t die
The programs sound innocuous enough: One spends federal money to store cotton bales. Another offers scholars a chance to study Asian-American relations. Two others pay to market U.S. oranges in Asia and clean up abandoned coal mines.
NRO | Ceil Us In?
Should Congress vote to raise the debt ceiling? If it does, what should Republicans get in exchange from the White House?
Washington Post | Report: Obama deficit plan falls short of fiscal commission, House GOP targets
...the plan Obama unveiled in a speech last week would require the nation to borrow another $7 trillion during the next decade, compared with about $5.4 trillion under the House Republican budget and about $5.3 trillion under the recommendations offered in December by Obama’s fiscal commission.
Econ Comments
American Spectator | Why Are Spending Cuts So Hard?
...at the rate we're going -- borrowing more than 40 cents on every dollar that Washington spends (mostly from China) -- we'll have to cut spending by 40 percent annually to balance the budget.
Washington Times | MURRAY: The midnight ride of Standard & Poor’s
We are now faced with a clear choice between a big-government, high-tax welfare state and a small-government, low-tax republic, such as the founders envisioned.
Blogs
Cato@Liberty | Senator Corker Explains His Plan to Cap Spending and Reduce the Fiscal Burden of Government
America is in fiscal peril in the short run because of a 10-year spending binge by Bush and Obama and in the long run because of a toxic combination of entitlement programs and demographics.
Heritage Foundation | Morning Bell: Time to Make Cuts in the Department of Energy
...the Department of Energy (DOE), and in the last 10 years it has seen its budget grow by over $11 billion — a staggering 76 percent.
EconLog | The Long-term Debt Issue
The NYT Room for Debate on the S&P downgrade includes some posts that I think contain some really misleading statements.
NRO: The Corner | FactCheck.org Sets the President Straight on the Ryan Plan
On Friday, the website FactCheck.org looked at President Obama’s claims about the Ryan plan and concluded that many of them were at best misleading…
