News
CNN Money | Pentagon budget: Time to cut
Since 2001, defense spending has just about doubled, rising to almost $700 billion in 2010. That is more than half of the discretionary budget and about 20% of the entire federal budget.
WSJ | States to Business: Give Our Cash Back
The budget vise squeezing states and cities is changing the economic-development game. Governments are attaching more strings to their offers of tax breaks, cheap rents and bond deals designed to lure business, and are getting tougher on past recipients who didn't come through.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | MCCAUGHEY: CBO declares war on Ryan budget plan
Premium support is not intended to give seniors less than they will get from Medicare under the Obama health law.
WSJ | Obama's Permanent Spending Binge
If government got by with 20% of GDP in 2007, why not in 2021, when GDP will be substantially higher?
Forbes | The Economics Of Substantial Budget Cuts
The growth effects of tax reduction make spending cuts more politically plausible.
RCM | To Work, Ryan's Reforms Need Process Constraints
With patients responsible for spending their funds, they are likely to be more cost conscious in deciding what type of health care or health insurance to buy.
Blogs
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Canada’s Deficit Cutting Vs. South of the Border
Canada’s budget deficit for the last 11 months shrank by nearly a third, to 28.3 billion Canadian dollars, or $29.7 billion, from the year-ago period–boosted by strong economic growth and higher commodity prices, and providing a stark foil to the current budget and debt woes south of the border.
Reports
NBER | A Decade of Debt
This paper presents evidence that public debts in the advanced economies have surged in recent years to levels not recorded since the end of World War II, surpassing the heights reached during the First World War and the Great Depression.
CBO | The Effects of Automatic Stabilizers on the Federal Budget
CBO estimates that automatic stabilizers are adding significantly to the budget deficit now but that their contribution will steadily fade over the next few years.
