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
$1.6 trillion deficit $8.2 trillion $12.8 trillion American Promise Austerity Balanced Budget Amendment balance the budget bipartisan reform cbo compound interest Congressional Budget Office Constitutional Amendment Contract From America debt burden default economy entitlements fair tax system federal budget Federal debt Federal deficit fiscal respnsibility fiscal responsibility Fiscal Sanity government debt Greece growth of government interest rates Judd Gregg limit on federal spending Line-Item Veto national debt net debt Pledge of Fiscal Responsibility political platform Portugal Social Security Spending Cap Spending Limit Amendment Sustainable Government Tax Reform Tea Party Term Limits trillion dollars unsustainable fiscal policyBlogroll
Federal deficit Archive
The Milton Friedman Moment
By James Schaefer
"There's no such thing as a free lunch." Fifty years ago most Americans believed those words, and they were used by Milton Friedman in a 1975 book of that title.
Jenny Fisher-Sullivan elaborated in the Wall Street Journal (March 3, 2011):
The Fed works for our bankrupt federal government and...
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 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 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 The ENTIRE Government Runs on Borrowed Money
By Ron Olive.
(To the Editor of the Wall Street Journal)
Sir:
In “Revenues Are Rising” (Review & Outlook, January 12th), you tell us that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, federal receipts “have climbed by $44 billion, or nearly 9%, to $531 billion” during the first quarter of fiscal...
Read More Your Legislators Work for You. Make Them Do Their Jobs!
We've heard a lot of talk about fiscal responsibility in the last few months, and now it's time for the new Congress to follow through. The primary responsibility of our congresspeople is to manage our money responsibly; if they continue to pile IOUs onto the backs of little children we should...
Read More 20 by ’20: A Limit on Federal Spending
By Dennis Canfield.
“… It's time to try something new.” - President Barack Obama, introducing his $3.8 trillion budget for 2011---which proposes that our federal government spend 25 cents of every dollar earned by every American, rich and poor alike. This is new. Before World War II, our government typically spent 10% less...
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 The only thing we have to fear is…insufficient fear?
by Michael Smith.
There’s not much to like about the federal government’s runaway spending and mounting debt, but there is a bright spot in the picture: public awareness. Thanks to bank bailouts, stimulus packages and other forms of conspicuous consumption practiced by Washington since the 2008 financial meltdown, Americans no longer...
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