Heritage recently released the 2012 Federal Budget in Pictures. It graphically illustrates the direction our country is headed under current policies. Join us on Friday May 4 from 12-1 ET for our “Lunch with Heritage” online chat. We will be joined by Heritage’s Alison Fraser and she will be taking your questions about the charts, the budget, the direction of the country, and how to change course. If you cannot make the chat leave a question in the comments and we will try and answer it for you. If you … More
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By Daniel J. Mitchell
I’ve argued, ad nauseam, that the single most important goal of fiscal policy is (or should be) to make sure the private sector grows faster than the government. This “golden rule” is the best way of enabling growth and avoiding fiscal crises, and I’ve cited nations that have made progress by restraining government spending. But [...]
Switzerland’s ‘Debt Brake’ Is a Role Model for Spending Control and Fiscal Restraint is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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April 29 marks the third year that the U.S. Senate has not passed a budget. Now more than ever, it is crucial that Americans understand what our nation’s spending, taxes, and debt mean for them and their families and why Congress must urgently get back to budgeting. The Heritage Foundation’s newly released Federal Budget in Pictures 2012 edition (previously called the Budget Chart Book) offers a unique tool to learn about the federal budget in a clear and compelling way. Debt and Deficits chart 1 shows that publicly held debt … More
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Over the past week, President Obama has been on the road making an appeal to young Americans, offering a sales pitch on lower interest rates for their burdensome student loans. What he didn’t mention, though, is the even bigger nightmare they’ll face down the road. The president’s meme is one that USAToday picked up on this morning, describing the plight of Millennials, their piles of debt, and their high rate of unemployment: Today’s twentysomethings hold an average debt of about $45,000, which includes everything from cars to credit cards to … More
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By Michael F. Cannon
(This blog post first appeared at Cato@Liberty following the release of the 2006 Medicare and Social Security trustees’ reports. I repost it, with updated links and “exhaustion dates” because sadly nothing else has changed.) Sometimes, Governments Lie Year after year, federal officials speak of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds as if they were [...]
Sometimes, Governments Lie (6th Anniversary Ed.) is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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We get it, the last thing President Obama wants is to be blamed for is the nation’s growing debt—or anything else, actually. But the statute of limitations on blaming President George W. Bush for everything—anything—must have run out by now. On the debt in particular, it’s sort of a hard thing to avoid considering President Obama is the first president in history to preside over four years of deficits in excess of $1 trillion. But in the time honored tradition of the Obama Administration, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner took to … More
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By Michael F. Cannon
My latest podcast, “IPAB: ObamaCare’s Next Constitutional Hurdle.” Podcast: ObamaCare’s Most Unconstitutional Provision Isn’t the Mandate. It’s IPAB. is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
Podcast: ObamaCare’s Most Unconstitutional Provision Isn’t the Mandate. It’s IPAB. is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Tad DeHaven
Chris Edwards provided an ample overview of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget proposal, so I won’t rehash the numbers. Instead, I’ll just add a few comments. Democrats and the left will squeal that Paul Ryan’s budget proposal is a massive threat to the poor, the sick, the elderly, etc, etc. It’s baloney, but a part [...]
Paul Ryan’s Budget: It’s Still Big Government is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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On March 13, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) updated its score of Obamacare, announcing that the program is $48 billion cheaper than in its previous 2011 score. The primary reason for this change is that more individuals will lose their employer-provided coverage than originally anticipated, and the government will collect $99 billion more in taxes and penalties. CBO also finds that there are more uninsured individuals. In short, this new CBO update continues the trend of Obamacare becoming increasingly expensive and decreasingly effective with each new scoring update. In this … More
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The most significant numbers in today’s updated estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) are not the official “baseline” figures. More important are CBO’s “alternative” projections, which make clear once again that too much spending—not too little tax revenue—is the biggest threat to the country’s fiscal and economic health. Among other things, the alternative figures show that: Federal spending will consume record levels of resources as a share of the economy, reaching nearly one-quarter of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022. Without tax increases, tax revenue would still reach its … More
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