I was curious about which House members are firmly opposed to Boehner’s debt reduction plan — and I had a surprisingly hard time finding a list. The Hill has a list here. A sizable number of Republican representatives are still…
Tag: Federal Budget
GDP growth at 1.3% annual rate, House fails to pass debt bill: Look out below!
No surprises here that GDP was overstated for the first quarter and was well below consensus for the second. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis this morning, first quarter GDP was revised down to a .4% annual rate, and…
Samuelson on the debt: “It’s the elderly, stupid.”
Larry Summers on the insufficient stimulus
A wonkish post. Ezra Klein with The Washington Post has a fascinating interview online with former treasury secretary Larry Summers. They talk about Keynes, regulation, financial crises, and politics. They also talk about the stimulus of early 2009. Summers says:…
More on federal revenues as percent of GDP
Debt problems weren’t a crisis, but will become one with default
President Obama – and presumably the Congressional Democrats that he thought he had on board – offered some big concessions last week in terms of the debt and deficits. No matter where they come from, $3 trillion in cuts including…
Brooks, Douthat on the debt reduction talks
As I write this, the so-called Gang of Six in the U.S. Senate appears to be getting good response to a long-term debt reduction plan. From the Washington Post: “We’ve gone from a Gang of Six to a mob of…
Felix Salmon on the damage already done by the debt ceiling debate
Felix Salmon is surely a new name to many, but his incisive commentaries on finance and economics have gained him considerable influence. In his latest opinion piece for Reuters, “The damage already done by the debt ceiling debate”, he notes…
Highlights of Bernanke’s remarks to the House today
Here you’ll find a few highlights from today’s prepared remarks by Ben Bernanke before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. It seems pretty clear the Fed is standing pat, despite fears from many of us that the current weakness…
Missing a chance to make progress toward reducing deficits and the debt?
A little over a decade ago, under a Democratic president, the United States was paying off the national debt in significant strides. Surpluses were running over $200 billion a year. Than came dramatic tax cuts, an expansion of Medicare benefits,…
Larry Summers: economy needs temporary stimulus via tax cuts, spending, other policy moves
Before the recession took hold, former Clinton Treasury secretary Larry Summers wrote some of the most incisive columns about the state of the U.S. and world economies. But when he was an economic advisor for Obama in 2009-2010, I thought…
The Ryan plan’s strange assumptions for another housing boom, beginning next year
This is another in occasional posts about the federal deficit and debt. Congressman Ryan’s plan to slash federal spending, which drew the votes of almost every House Republican, doesn’t just rely on dramatic spending cuts. The math behind the plan…
The most boring post ever: Bernanke’s entire press conference today
And if that title didn’t scare you, please be aware that the embedded video, which is nearly an hour long, begins with almost exactly 10 minutes of dead air. So do yourself a favor and skip ahead. This is an…
Stockman, Samuelson attack lack of candor in federal budget debate
This is another in occasional posts regarding the ongoing national debate about the federal debt and deficit. I’ve already written about the incredible ignorance shown in polls asking the public about the growing problems. By large margins, Americans see the…