News
Washington Times | Supercommittee deadlocked with deadline approaching
Failure by panel would trigger cuts in spending.
National Journal | Congress Passes Appropriations, CR Bill
Covering science agencies and five cabinet departments, it's a step forward.
CNN: Money | Debt committee: 11th-hour cheat sheet
Democrats and Republicans still can't come to bipartisan agreement on two central issues: the best way to increase tax revenue and reduce social program spending; and by how much.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | LAMBRO: Taking a stab at deficit reduction standoff
Toomey plan might be supercommittee’s last chance.
WSJ | The Sequester Option
The spending cuts in 2013 would hardly be onerous.
Washington Times | BOEHNER et al.: Balanced Budget Amendment now
Past failures and present debt danger leave us one responsible choice.
Blogs
Mercatus Center: Neighborhood Effects | What Makes for a Good Balanced Budget Amendment?
There are many different varieties of balanced budget amendments and some of these have much stronger features than others. In my view, the most-effective amendments are those that:
Heritage Foundation | Supercommittee Dithers on Tax Hikes – But Where are the Spending Cuts?
What’s a supercommittee to do? Total national debt just hit a new record at $15 trillion, an increase of approximately $700 billion since the Supercommittee’s August inception.
AEI: American | Paul Ryan’s 17-page response to the CBO’s income inequality study
One underreported conclusion from the CBO study is that shifts in government transfers and federal taxes have contributed to increasing inequality over time. Both taxes and government transfers remain progressive, but the equalizing effect of transfers and taxes on household income was smaller in 2007 than it was in 1979.
Reports
Mercatus Center: Neighborhood Effects | Federal Infrastructure Spending: Neither a Good Stimulus Nor a Good Investment
According to economic research, fiscal stimulus can be counterproductive if it is not timely, targeted, and temporary. By nature, infrastructure spending is not timely and very hard to target. Even when money is available, it can be months or even years before it’s spent.
