News
Market Watch | Boehner: No debt-ceiling hike unless spending cut
The Republican leader of the U.S. House said Thursday his party plans to push a bill that ties an increase in how much the government can borrow - the so-called debt ceiling - to more cuts in federal spending.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Saving the Sequester
One cost of the media circus around Ted Cruz is that almost no one is following the classic Washington misdirection play over the automatic sequester spending cuts. While right and left are preoccupied with their hero or bugbear, the politicians are attempting to break the spending caps.
CBO | Testimony on The 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook
In brief, between 2009 and 2012, the federal government recorded the largest budget deficits relative to the size of the economy since 1946, causing federal debt to soar. Federal debt held by the public is now about 73 percent of the economy’s annual output, or gross domestic product (GDP). That percentage is higher than at any point in U.S. history except a brief period around World War II, and it is twice the percentage at the end of 2007.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Plan to Suspend Debt Limit Means Debt Would Rise to $17.8 Trillion
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced a new debt ceiling deadline today, urging congressional lawmakers and the President to come to an agreement concerning the nation’s borrowing authority by October 17. Republicans are proposing a $1.1 trillion increase in the debt limit by suspending the cap through December 2014. The big question is: Will lawmakers take control of the key drivers of soaring spending and debt as part of an increase?
NY Times | Detroit Spent Billions Extra on Pensions
Detroit’s municipal pension fund made payments for decades to retirees, active workers and others above and beyond normal benefits, costing the struggling city billions of dollars and helping push it into bankruptcy, according to people who have reviewed the payments.
Heritage Foundation | Morning Bell: $43,000 Per Household
Did you know that since President Obama came into office, the debt limit has been raised seven times? With those increases, Congress has added $43,000 in debt for every American household in just the last four years.
