News
Daily Finance | Alabama County Could File for Biggest U.S. Municipal Bankruptcy Ever
So far, the negotiations have come up short by $300 million. Jefferson County has asked bondholders to forgive $1.3 billion of its debt, while creditors have offered to write off $1 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Econ Comments
WSJ | How Silent Cal Beat a Recession
The late president inherited a bad economy, and he cut taxes and slashed spending to spur growth.
RCM | A Small Step Toward Fiscal Solvency
Few people realize that congressional spending cuts for a given year are not subtracted from the prior year's spending. Rather, cuts are subtracted from a budget that grows on autopilot, particularly entitlement programs.
WSJ | Make the Dollar-for-Dollar Rule Permanent
Matching debt increases with spending cuts will balance the budget in a decade without raising taxes.
Washington Post | TYRRELL: The long war over the budget
The Tea Party is essential to eventual victory.
WSJ | Obama's Deal With the Debt Devil
Cruel history turned against the president and the left's long-term spending dreams.
Blogs
Reuters | Entitlement reform would indicate maturity
Spending in 2011 is estimated to come in at $3.8 trillion or just over 25 percent of GDP. That’s the highest ratio since 1945 — in 2005, the ratio was under 20%. Calling $3.8 trillion dollars “very low” is very hard to understand, unless you see a crying need for an even larger number.
Atlantic: McArdle | How Long Will US Debt Remain the Destination of Choice for Global Capital?
Mitch McConnell is apparently promising that last week's histrionics over the debt ceiling were merely a prelude to a lengthy drama in which we re-enact this battle every time the debt ceiling needs to be raised.
Reuters | Regretting raising the debt-ceiling
Larry Summers’ cynicism about the new debt deal is justified. What, indeed, is the baseline from which $1.5 trillion is to be subtracted?
Café Hayek | Fabulous picture, but…
But for me the more interesting (and misleading) aspect of the chart is the “modest” increases in the deficit coming from Obama, a “mere” $1.44 trilion. There’s a pernicious assumption built into that conclusion, that all previous spending is “mandatory.”
Reports
Mercatus Center | The Never-ending Emergency
...serious concerns have emerged about the nature and size of supplemental appropriations bills and in particular about the abuse of emergency spending.
