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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Federal debt Archive
The Keepers of the Flame
By James Schaefer.
At long last, the topic of entitlement reform -- "the topic" -- has been broached (see Weekend Interview with Paul Ryan).
These entitlements -- Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Prescription Drug Benefit -- are the promises that politicians have made to American citizens for decades. We think of them...
Read More The Scott Adams Challenge
By James Schaefer.
Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert, recently had a feature article in the Wall Street Journal, entitled "How to Tax the Rich", and he asked readers to think up incentives that might allow our biggest taxpayers to feel a bit better about dropping hundred-thousand-dollar checks into the ravenous maw...
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 Let’s have a real fight about deficits if it leads to real answers
by Michael Smith.
In a letter to the Washington Post this week, I pointed out that the national debt has been a bipartisan project. The only real disagreement between the parties has centered on how to spend borrowed money.
The taming of the debt—assuming our politicians don’t wait for a global economic...
Read More Letter To A Congressman
By John Lumbard.
Dear Congressman;
In high school we all learned that our Congress has the power of the purse. Our legislators have other powers and responsibilities, but their most basic duty is to ably manage the monies that they extract from reluctant and disillusioned taxpayers and voters. They have failed...
Read More Federal debt or generational debt?
by Michael Smith.
Michael Kinsley has imagined a project for the Boomers, who never matched the feats of the "Greatest Generation" and have felt bad about it ever since Tom Brokaw wrote the book. Kinsley wants us to sacrifice as a group and defuse the federal debt bomb--the only challenge left for us that...
Read More Join Americans for a Balanced Budget Amendment
By John Lumbard.
As the months have rolled by we've worked to simplify our message, because nobody wants to stop partying long enough to think about bipartisan fiscal responsibility. Most Americans are for it---probably by a massive majority---but most haven't even thought about practical ways to ensure that the Congress does...
Read More Let’s Pay Twice for the Same Benefits
By James Schaefer.
Government has been using the Social Security Trust Fund to help finance government services and programs since around 1970 (see SSA History, the section entitled "On-budget"). In doing so, it has taken money intended for the future and spent it today.
Beginning in 2010 for the first time, Social Security will begin to pay...
Read More “The Debt The Government Owes Itself For Raiding Social Security”
By James Schaefer.
Jonathan Weisman wrote cogently in the Wall Street Journal about addressing the budget deficit (Voters Back Tough Steps to Reduce Budget Deficit, Aug 17, 2010 -- subscription required).
He points out that tens of millions of voters are ready to accept tough measures to balance the federal budget, and...
Read More Debt, Deficits, and Dumbfunded Liabilities
By James Schaefer.
Few Americans are saving enough for retirement and other future needs, but the sorry truth is that individuals are more fiscally prudent -- and solvent -- than the governments and government agencies that serve them. The problem can be described in terms of deficits, debt, and (worst of all!)...
Read More