News
Politico | Deficit hits $1.1 trillion, Treasury says
In July alone, the government spent $129.38 billion more than it took in, down from $165 billion a year earlier. All but $8 billion of that $36 billion difference came from one-time transactions made in 2010, Treasury said.
Econ Comments
Politico | Trouble ahead: Debt deal like 3-D chess
The House and Senate members of the new bipartisan deficit reduction super committee have now been named and they may soon start hearing from some unexpected voices. Let’s call them the nine-percenters.If the committee should deadlock, or if Congress rejects its recommendations, a wide range of federal beneficiaries would confront a 9 percent across-the-board, line-by-line cut on their appropriations come Jan. 1, 2013.
Minyanville | Could Unspent Stimulus Money Be Used to Fend Off a New Recession?
It's possible that the billions in stimulus the federal government still has left could be spent to counteract the fallout from the European debt crisis and S&P's downgrade of the US credit rating.
Cato Institute | Two of the All-Time Greatest Successes in Cutting Taxes and Spending
Federal spending has been out of control for so long, it's hard to imagine how big cuts in taxes and spending — actual cuts, not baseline cuts — could ever be achieved.
