Archive for April, 2010

Markets will punish government profligacy

By Paul Casto In this article from Reuters, the head of the European Central Bank predicts that irresponsible governments will have to pay higher interest rates when they borrow.  Trichet is warning that other European nations could follow Greece down the slippery slope, but the same applies to the United States.  This...
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Video: How Much is a Trillion?

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Tax Reform

"A Bipartisan Plan for Tax Reform", from Senators JUDD GREGG (R - NH) and RON WYDEN (D - Oregon): "By streamlining and modernizing the outdated tax code, our proposal would eliminate many of the specialized tax breaks that currently benefit one group of Americans over another. The changes we propose will create...
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Taxation, Needs, and Wants

By James Schaefer All discussions about taxation must begin with a single premise: there will never, ever be enough tax revenue to satisfy the political appetite.  With apologies to General Chesty Puller, "Men, we're surrounded.  This simplifies our problem." America's citizens are surrounded by taxes, and demands for additional taxes.  No matter...
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An All-Consuming Interest

By John Lumbard TAX REVENUE of $2.2 TRILLION, and INTEREST COSTS of $1 TRILLION A YEAR. In my last post I suggested that we shouldn't count the U.S. Treasury bonds held in the Social Security trust fund when talking about the size of the debt.  The reason is that we don't have to pay...
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Rolling Up Our Sleeves

After a long hiatus relating to business travel, vacation, and a long overhaul of the site---which had been damaged by a Wordpress "upgrade"---we're back to work.  There will be new contributors, new links to the Congressional Budget Office and other sources, and a new comment section that all of our...
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