By Chris Edwards
Economic variables are key drivers of the numbers in CBO’s budget projections. I noted last week that CBO’s new outlook assumes substantially lower interest rates, which appears to produce more than a trillion dollars of savings over the next decade. Policymakers should be aware, however, that macroeconomic forecasts are not very accurate, despite the sophisticated [...]
CBO Forecast Accuracy is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Chris Edwards
It’s been a year since Republicans assumed control in the House in the wake of the 2010 elections, which were powered by Tea Party concerns about massive federal spending and deficits. With the more conservative House, has Congress made any progress on spending cuts yet? Let’s compare the new CBO budget projections to CBO’s January [...]
Has Congress Cut Any Spending Yet? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Daniel J. Mitchell
On this day last year, I posted two charts that I developed using the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank’s interactive website. Those two charts showed that the current recovery was very weak compared to the boom of the early 1980s. But perhaps that was an unfair comparison. Maybe the Reagan recovery started strong and then hit [...]
One Year Later, Another Look at Obamanomics vs. Reaganomics is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Sallie James
A very good editorial on Bloomberg.com on farm subsidies, and why the “let’s swap direct payments for crop insurance” proposal is a bad deal for taxpayers. American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman isn’t exactly a poster child for the farm program reform movement, but here he writes something I didn’t think would ever flow from [...]
Agriculture and Trade Links is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Daniel J. Mitchell
Back in 2010, I crunched the numbers from the Congressional Budget Office and reported that the budget could be balanced in just 10 years if politicians exercised a modicum of …
New Congressional Budget Office Numbers Once Again Show that Modest Spending Restraint Would Eliminate Red Ink is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Chris Edwards
CBO has released a study comparing the wages and benefits of private sector and federal non-military workers. The study uses statistical techniques to make comparisons with adjustments for education level, …
CBO Study on Federal Pay is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Daniel J. Mitchell
Leftists want higher tax rates and they want greater tax compliance. But they have a hard time understanding that those goals are inconsistent.
Simply stated, people respond to incentives. When tax …
New Academic Study Confirms Previous IMF Analysis, Shows that Lower Tax Rates Are the Best Way to Reduce Tax Evasion is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By David Boaz
Only days after the president declared, “No more bailouts, no more handouts,” I see that Arlo Guthrie is touring the South in February and March. What’s the connection? If you have the good fortune to see him, be sure to ask for “I’m Changing My Name to Fannie Mae.” That 2008 song was itself a new [...]
Arlo Sings Bailouts is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Daniel J. Mitchell
One year ago, I wrote about how the French government was getting unexpected additional revenues following the implementation of lower tax rates.
This is the Laffer Curve in action, and it’s …
The Laffer Curve Works, Even in France is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
By Alan Reynolds
The title is from a Wall Street Journal editorial in January of 2011. I commented on Gingrich’s response to that editorial in the following excerpt from a chapter I wrote …
‘Professor Cornpone: Ethanol Lobbyist Newt Gingrich—and the Future of the GOP’ is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
