** 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 **
** Building A Million Dollar Retirement Portfolio **
The average carried credit card balance in the U.S. is almost $16,000 per household. The average interest on that carried balance is 12.79% (source: Creditcards.com). The true cost of borrowing money is the sum of interest paid, plus the earnings foregone had that money been invested; this is what economists call "opportunity cost": the cost of the foregone opportunity to do things differently. For example, the true cost of a "Zero-percent interest!" auto loan is actually the earnings foregone had the money been invested, i.e., around 6.6%; and the true cost (the opportunity cost) of a carried balance on a credit card is the sum of the interest charged (12.79%) plus the earnings foregone (an average market return of 6.6%), or over 19%.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 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 Investing Judd Gregg limit on federal spending Line-Item Veto national debt Pledge of Fiscal Responsibility political platform Portugal Social Security Spending Cap Spending Limit Amendment Sustainable Government Tax Reform Tea Party Term Limits The Stock Market trillion dollars unsustainable fiscal policyBlogroll
Pledge of Fiscal Responsibility Archive
Jefferson Democrats and the 2012 Election
By James Schaefer.
In a Wall Street Journal piece entitled Obama and the Politics of Condescension, Karl Rove asks the question, "Do we place our trust in the federal government or the people?"
This question is not a new one.
At the founding of the republic, it was central to the debate.
Alexander Hamilton wanted...
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 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 Taking the Long View
By James Schaefer.
In America nearly everyone has the opportunity to acquire substantial retirement savings; it's simply a matter of applying self discipline (and some common sense) consistently over a very long period of time. Starting at age 22, saving a million dollars -- or more -- in retirement accounts is fairly...
Read More Term Limits? Again?
By John Lumbard.
It's said that fish and guests begin to stink after 3 days or so. Apparently the American public now believes, by overwhelming margins (74% of Democrats and 84% of Republicans), that even competent congressmen begin to stink after a while. Term limits are back in favor, presumably because...
Read More How ’bout a Little Optimism? The American Promise.
By John Lumbard.
Investors are running scared right now, fearful that a slowdown in our economy means that we're headed back into a double-dip recession. Stop worrying and enjoy a double dip in the ocean (a balmy 66 degrees at the New Hampshire shore today) or two scoops of ice cream at Annabelle's here...
Read More Sustainable Government
By Dan H.
As California goes, so goes the nation. That has long been the case with fad and fashion, but lately California has been playing the role of canary in the coal mine. The state budget is out of control, and there are no longer any easy answers.
Much...
Read More The Safe Withdrawal Rate
By John Lumbard.
The “safe withdrawal rate” is the amount of cash a retired person can withdraw from an IRA or other investment account without someday running out of money. It’s not an easy figure to calculate, because you need to project your investment returns and your cost of living...
Read More Sustainable Government
By James Schaefer.
In a recent Opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (Tax Aversion Syndrome and Our Deficit Future), Peter G. Peterson writes about Congressional Budget Office projections that show the public debt rising from its current 60% of GDP to 233% in 30 years, and 500% in 50...
Read More