News
Fiscal Times | Negotiators Tempted by Gimmickry in Budget Talks
Negotiators seeking to carve trillions of dollars from the deficit are facing temptation to use iffy assumptions and outright gimmickry to exaggerate the size of spending cuts to accompany any increase in the government's ability to borrow to stay afloat.
Washington Times | CBO: Debt crisis looms absent major policy changes
A new report says the national debt is on pace to equal the annual size of the economy within a decade, levels that could provoke a European-style debt crisis unless policymakers in Washington can slam the brakes on spiraling deficits.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | Bernanke: Spending cuts won’t boost jobs
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Wednesday rejected an argument frequently made by Republican deficit hawks that immediate, deep cuts in federal spending will help produce jobs.
FT | Time for common sense on Greece
The question about the prospects for Greece is not whether the country will default. That is, in my view, as near to a certainty as any such thing can be.
Washington Times | MILLER: Short-term debt fix
Democrats exploit crunch-time advantage to preserve status quo.
Daily Caller | House’s proposed balanced budget amendment is flawed
After years of indifference to constitutional fiscal discipline, Congress is once again stirring. Excessive, outrageous spending, deficits and debt, the Tea Party movement and the last election have provided a motivated majority in the House of Representatives.
Washington Times | LAMBRO: Debt tsunami surges toward Washington
Bereft of ideas, Obama resorts to gimmickry.
Blogs
Enterprise Blog | Rep. Brady Touts ‘Realistic’ Spending Plan as ‘Complement’ to Ryan’s Budget Bill
The vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee unveiled a spending-control plan at AEI today that he says will “complement” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” and put “guardrails” around it.
NRO: The Corner | A Better Debt-Ceiling Compromise
While it would be very serious if the U.S. had to default on its debt, it would be just as irresponsible to continue to pass debt-limit increases without putting in place a credible plan to reduce future government spending and put the nation back on the right fiscal track so that Treasury can eventually reduce the nation’s debt.
Reports
CBO | CBO's 2011 Long-Term Budget Outlook
If policymakers are to put the federal government on a sustainable budgetary path, they will need to increase revenues substantially as a percentage of GDP, decrease spending significantly from projected levels, or adopt some combination of those two approaches.
