Posted by Alan Reynolds on July 30, 2010
By Alan Reynolds
From January 2009 to the present, President Obama and his team have repeatedly made grandiose claims about the economic benefits of shoveling money at shovel-ready projects or green jobs. “It is largely thanks to the Recovery Act that a second Depression is no longer a possibility,” said the President. He also claimed that lavish spending [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: Federal Reserve, federal spending, Finance, Banking & Monetary Policy, GDP, gdp growth, Government and Politics, recession, stimulus bill, unemployment rate | 
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Posted by Chris Edwards on July 26, 2010
By Chris Edwards
The debate on extending the Bush tax cuts has begun. Those opposed to extension argue that the cuts would greatly increase the federal deficit.
The first thing to note is that extending all the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts would lose the government about $216 billion a year in 2012 and rising amounts after that (see page 16). By contrast, [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: bush tax cuts, federal deficit, federal spending, Reagan Tax Cuts, tax cut | No Comments »
Posted by Chris Edwards on July 26, 2010
By Chris Edwards
The debate on extending the Bush tax cuts has begun. Those opposed to extension argue that the cuts would greatly increase the federal deficit.
The first thing to note is that extending all the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts would lose the government about $216 billion a year in 2012 and rising amounts after that (see page 16). By contrast, [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: bush tax cuts, federal deficit, federal spending, Reagan Tax Cuts, tax cut, tax reform act | No Comments »
Posted by Tad DeHaven on July 22, 2010
By Tad DeHaven
Voters who recognize the need to make major cuts to federal spending and think returning Republicans to power will accomplish this feat could be in for a big disappointment. Recent comments to the Washington Post made by former Senate majority leader Trent Lott (R-MS) make it clear that anti-spending candidates elected in November will be [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: federal spending, gop leadership, Government and Politics, jeff sessions, jim demint, mitch mcconnell, tom coburn, trent lott | No Comments »
Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell on June 29, 2010
By Daniel J. Mitchell
There is considerable academic research on the growth-maximizing level of government spending. Based on a good bit of research, I’m fairly confident that Cato’s Richard Rahn was the first to popularize this concept, so we are going to make him famous (sort of like Art Laffer) in this new video explaining that there is a spending [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: big government, debt, Deficits, economics, federal spending, fiscal policy, General, Government and Politics, government spending, International Economics and Development, Political Philosophy, taxation | No Comments »
Posted by Tad DeHaven on June 24, 2010
By Tad DeHaven
During a recent CNBC debate on federal spending, I argued that government policies are creating uncertainty in the business community. Businesses are reluctant to invest or hire because they’re concerned that the president’s big government agenda will mean higher taxes and more onerous regulations.
I mentioned that every business owner I’ve spoken with has expressed this [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: anti-business, big government, depression, economic growth, FDR, federal spending, Health, regime uncertainty, regulation, robert higgs, small business, Washington Post | No Comments »
Posted by Alan Reynolds on June 22, 2010
By Alan Reynolds
A recent Washington Post column by Ezra Klein dreamed up a new excuse for the conspicuous failure of Obama’s so-called stimulus plan. Klein argues that the stimulus of federal spending has been offset by the “anti-stimulus” of fiscal austerity by state and local governments. For proof he quotes Bruce Bartlett, who is fast becoming the favorite go-to guy [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: Bruce Bartlett, federal spending, Finance, Banking & Monetary Policy, gdp growth, Government, government spending, liberals, spending, state and local governments, Washington Post | No Comments »
Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell on June 6, 2010
By Daniel J. Mitchell
It’s rather symbolic of what’s wrong with Washington that a commission ostensibly created to promote deficit reduction is seeking a bigger budget, as noted in the Tax Notes story excerpted below. Rather than impose a bigger burden on taxpayers, though, I will generously suggest that they could easily fulfill their mandate by perusing Cato’s Downsizing [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: big government, Constitution, debt, deficit, Deficit Commission, federal spending, Government and Politics, government spending | No Comments »
