Econ Comments & Analysis
Institutional Investor | How Long Can U.S. Treasuries Remain a Safe Haven?
Investors in the U.S. Treasury market are behaving as if the term “sovereign debt crisis” had never entered the financial lexicon.
Washington Times | Falling off the fiscal cliff
Pundits and politicians are warning that the U.S. economy could go over a “fiscal cliff” on Jan. 1, when, under current law, we will face a double whammy of large spending cuts and significant tax increases. This, they warn, could trigger another recession.
Heritage Foundation | Federal Spending by the Numbers - 2012
The federal government has closed out its fourth straight year of trillion-dollar-plus deficits, and the imperative to rein in spending has never been greater. Because all government spending gets paid for through either taxes or borrowing—both of which burden the economy—spending reduction is an essential condition for promoting economic growth.
Blogs
Economist | Is the slow recovery unusual?
In 2009, Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff published This Time is Different, an empirical study of financial crises going back to the Middle Ages. Widely lauded by economists of all stripes, the book shows that recoveries following financial crises take a long time. Barack Obama, the U.S. president, has taken this message on the road to explain why he ought to be reelected despite a lacklustre economic record.
Neighborhood Effects | GASB’s new guidance and the well-funded plan
As of June 2012, GASB has put forth two new accounting guidelines to help value public sector pension plans. These are GASB 67 and GASB 68. These rules help government actuaries to calculate the value of plan assets and plan liabilities.
National Review | Obama Budget Deficits: A Story of Failed Promises
Back in 2009, the president projected that he would cut the deficit to $912 billion by 2011 and $581 billion by 2012. The reality is quite different. Fiscal year 2012, which ended a few weeks ago, was the fourth year in a row to close with a deficit that surpassed a trillion dollars.
