News
WSJ | Budget Battle Breeds Dysfunctional Spending
As Negotiators Still Far Apart, Stopgap Measure Keeps Some Policies in Place That Don't Make Sense.
Politico | Scant progress on budget negotiating panel
The second public meeting of a House-Senate budget negotiating committee yielded few signs that lawmakers will be able to resolve deep differences over fiscal policy.
WSJ | U.S. Budget Deficit Narrows in October
The U.S. government's deficit for October totaled $91.59 billion, compared with a $120.00 billion shortfall during the same period a year earlier, the Treasury Department said Wednesday in its monthly report. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had forecast a $95.0 billion deficit.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CBO | Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023
This volume presents 103 options that would decrease federal spending or increase federal revenues over the next decade. Those options cover many areas—ranging from defense to energy, Social Security, and provisions of the tax code.
Mercatus Center | Why We Have Federal Deficits: The Policy Decisions That Created Them
The vast majority—more than three-fourths—of the currently projected long-term fiscal imbalance derives from a set of decisions made between 1965 and 1972: specifically, the creation and subsequent expansion of Medicare and Medicaid and the automatic indexation of Social Security benefits.
