Tag: Federal Budget

2013 federal deficit comparable to Reagan, Clinton years

The Treasury Department has released the Final Monthly Treasury Statement for FY 2013. The federal government brought in $2.774 trillion dollars for the entire fiscal year and spent $3.454 trillion, for a deficit of $680 billion. So the 2013 deficit…

Amid budget and debt debates, Paul Ryan lists toward the middle: a few thoughts

The government shutdown and debt debate are obviously fluid issues, but we know there will be some lasting fallout after an inevitable deal is struck and the government is funded and debt limited extended as they have to be. In…

Calculated Risk with “a few comments on dumb policy”

Calculated Risk blogger Bill McBride is one of the clearest, most pragmatic voices out there in terms of analysis of the U.S. economy. He posted some typically concise and on-the-mark commentary on Sunday: A few comments on dumb policy McBride…

Don’t panic: Social Security and Medicare are far from broke, many long-term fixes available

When some politicians and organizations are calling for steep and immediate cuts to entitlement spending, it’s very difficult to tell sometimes whether they are making ideological or economic arguments. Do they really want a more libertarian society in which the…

Shrinking deficit, improving job growth — plenty of reasons for economic optimism

For a few years, one of my closest friends referred to me routinely as Mr. Doom & Gloom because of my consistent predictions of a worsening economy. I never understood the baseless optimism before the recession and during the first…

The federal government is “a massive insurance conglomerate with a large standing army”

From Ezra Klein’s post at the Wonkblog at the Washington Post, Five charts that will make you feel better about paying your taxes: The truth is that the federal government, as seen through the budget, is a massive insurance conglomerate…

A few thoughts on Obama’s proposed budget

I’ve been trying to tell my friends on the right for the last few years that in a second term Obama would propose a budget that would cut future spending on Medicare and Social Security. Should he have proposed those…

David Stockman and “Sundown in America”: is he right?

Human beings have often grabbed onto the idea that we’re living in exceptional times, that we’re living on the verge of the end of the world. I think that apocalyptic impulse has risen with the economic frights of the last few years.

And I agree with Stockman on some of his points, including that the stock market is being propped up by Fed policy. But I don’t see any sign of the economy unraveling as Stockman seems to believe so fervently.

When the sequester hit Yellowstone . . .

As I keep saying, those who keep telling Americans that the sequester won’t have serious economic impacts are dead wrong. Yes, the 2ish percent cut to federal spending sounds modest, but many programs are completely exempt from cuts. And the…

Compelling video shows reality of wealth inequality in America

One of the reasons I remain pretty optimistic about the United States’ long-term economic prospects is that we have such vast wealth. That sheer wealth will eventually help eliminate the nation’s debt, fuel investment in infrastructure, and allow the economy…

Savannah River Site furloughing 2,000 workers, laying off others because of sequester

From Savannah River Site furloughs 2,000 workers at SavannahNow: About 2,000 workers at the Savannah River Site near Aiken will be working reduced schedules starting next month because of the federal budget cuts. Other employees will be laid off. […]…

A Republican governor, the Medicaid expansion, and the “conscience” of health care

From the Miami Herald a few days ago, Florida Gov. Rick Scott supports Medicaid expansion: Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday he supports expanding Medicaid and funneling billions of federal dollars to Florida, a significant policy reversal that could bring health…

Pew Research Center: “Little support for cutting” federal programs

More on a theme I’ve been writing about regularly. While Americans say that they want to cut government spending generally, Americans — by considerable margins — oppose cuts to specific programs. From the Pew Research Center for the People and…

Georgia poised for big hit to economy in sequester cuts

As more data is becoming available, it’s now clear that Georgia’s economy will be particularly hurt by the sequester.

USA Today’s Services lay out sweeping state-by-state spending cuts suggests that defense cuts will cost Georgia 17,163 jobs, the 5th worst among the states.