An American Promise
● A Balanced-Budget Amendment to the Constitution, with appropriate exceptions for times of war and recession.
● A line-item veto, to give the President a fighting chance to eliminate pork and earmarks.
● A limitation on federal spending, to 20% of GDP.-
*** About We Elected You ***
Have Your Say!
- John Lumbard on Problems With a Balanced Budget Amendment?
- Chris Curley on Problems With a Balanced Budget Amendment?
- John Lumbard on How to Fix the Health Care Mess
- Did Government Agencies “Raid” Social Security “Coffers”? « Joejolly’s Weblog on “The Debt The Government Owes Itself For Raiding Social Security”
- John Lumbard on The Antidote
- Gen Y on The Keepers of the Flame
- Chuck Bailey on Amendment Filed. Call Your Congressman!
- Phoebe Addington on Party On!
- FaGaurlwal on Incentives Rule!
- James Schaefer on The ENTIRE Government Runs on Borrowed Money
Topics
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bipartisan reform Archive
The Antidote
By Alan Parks.
Business World writer Holman Jenkins, Jr. lays out the case very well in a Wall Street Journal article on April 6, 2011 that the United States is almost certainly going to deal with its massive deficits and unfunded entitlement liabilities by printing fiat money---which could lead to significant, painful...
Read More This Week In Fiscal Irresponsibility
By John Lumbard.
This is shaping up to be a big week for debt and deficits. The U.S. Senate is deep in discussions and negotiations regarding Senate Joint Resolutions 3,4,5, and 10. The President is going to deliver a speech Wednesday afternoon at George Washington University (apparently without TV coverage) that...
Read More The Farmer and the Lottery
By James Schaefer.
The farmer wins the lottery and is being interviewed by a news reporter. "What are you planning to do, now that you've got all this money?" Replies the farmer,"Well, I guess I'll just keep farming 'til the money's gone."
Today farmers enjoy so much taxpayer support that it's fair...
Read More Senator Udall (D – Colorado) Speaks
By John Lumbard.
Republicans are threatening to shut down the government over $100 billion in spending cuts---remember when that was considered big money?---while Democrats try to turn the event to their political advantage. Wouldn't it make more sense to take a stand on principle and a permanent change for the...
Read More The Grand Bargain
By John Lumbard.
In the weeks before the 2008 elections Barack Obama mused that the nation needs to strike a "grand bargain" if it's going to balance the federal budget. You won't give up your benefits and tax breaks unless I give up mine, and the same can be said...
Read More Amendment Filed. Call Your Congressman!
Senators Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) have introduced a Balanced-Budget Amendment to the Constitution that---are you sitting down?---includes a 20% of GDP cap on federal spending! It requires a 3/5 vote of both houses to run deficits or overspend, but in other respects is very much like a bill...
Read More Party On!
By John Lumbard.
When we launched this blog the federal debt was 12-and-something trillion, and we were fretting about the first trillion-dollar budget deficit. Really, I shouldn't have been surprised to see the $14 trillion number at the top of our home page, but it touched a nerve anyway. And...
Read More Hair of the Dog
By John Lumbard.
Unemployment claims are down. The trade deficit is rising. The Fed is printing money. A new cut in payroll taxes (less FICA taken out of your paycheck) and an extension of unemployment benefits will mean growing federal budget deficits---and a big new stimulus for the economy. We’re...
Read More Don’t Throw Rocks at the Firemen
When people are in trouble they're not always willing to accept help. Whether you're talking about an alcoholic resisting intervention, a drug addict, a wife who protects her wife-beating husband, or a homeowner who refuses to leave the flanks of an erupting Mount Saint Helens, there's never been a shortage of...
Read More Three Cheers for the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility!
By John Lumbard.
The President's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility will release its findings on December 1, but recently the two chairmen--Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles---took the extraordinary step of releasing a "draft" of the "Co-Chair's proposal". It's an end-run around the dissenting voices in the commission, and a clear statement that...
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