Fiscal Policy

Republicans and the Debt Limit

by Laurence M. Vance January 10, 2013

It’s official: The U. S. government has reached its debt limit. According to the Daily Treasury Statement for December 31, 2012, total public debt increased to $16.432 trillion, exceeding the debt limit of $16.394 trillion. The debt subject to limit, $16.393 trillion, was about as close as it could get without going over. This is a far cry ...

His Majesty Obama and the Debt Ceiling

by Wendy McElroy January 10, 2013

President Obama may be poised to claim an unprecedented executive power. Or not. It depends on whether you credit official denials from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney or public statements from high-ranking Democrats. The monarchical power in question is the ability to raise the debt ceiling at will. It involves bypassing the House of Representatives, which currently has ...

The Forgotten Pox of Government Spending

by James Bovard January 1, 2013

It is only a question of time until Washington is convulsed by the next federal budget crisis. Unfortunately, neither major political party is offering substantive proposals to curb soaring federal outlays. And Washington itself is inherently unable to recognize the true threat of government spending to Americans’ future and freedom. It was a common saying in the 1930s that “we ...

Repudiate the National Debt

by Wendy McElroy December 24, 2012

As of December 19 at 11:50:59 a.m. GMT, the national debt of the federal government was $16,357,278,240,896.86, or $52,080.07 for every individual in the United States. The only sane and moral stance is to repudiate it entirely. “Repudiation” is not a word used by the political mainstream. Part of the reason is who holds the debt. China is ...

Is a Balanced Budget the Answer?

by Laurence M. Vance December 21, 2012

According to the Treasury Department’s “Monthly Treasury Statement of Receipts and Outlays of the United States Government,” the U.S. government took in $2.449 trillion in revenue during fiscal year 2012 — but spent $3.538 trillion. That means the government spent $1.089 trillion more than it took in. Although it was under George W. Bush that the United States ...

Washington’s Budget Con Game

by Sheldon Richman December 10, 2012

If the “fiscal cliff” controversy isn’t enough to convince you this government is one big fraud, what will it take? The budget mess was delivered to us by the same people who every step of the way claimed to be acting in our best interest. Let that sink in. Every president and every member of Congress assured us that ...

Clinton’s Legacy, Part 1: The Financial and Housing Meltdown

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 2012

Part 1 | Part 2 Bill Clinton leads a charmed life. The former president is treated like a respected elder statesman whose tenure in office was so good that even some Republicans look back fondly on the years 1993–2001. On the surface the record indeed looks good. The 1990s were a period of economic growth, and the central ...

The Real Fiscal Cliff

by Laurence M. Vance November 28, 2012

The combination of expiring tax cuts and unemployment benefits, spending cuts, and tax increases — all scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2013 — has been termed the “fiscal cliff.” To make matters worse, the debt ceiling of $16.394 trillion — the maximum amount of money the government is legally allowed to borrow — may ...

Jumping off the Fiscal Cliff

by Tim Kelly November 28, 2012

The American people are once again being told of an impending financial catastrophe. Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin S. Bernanke has said that America will plunge off a “fiscal cliff” if Congress doesn’t do something by January 1, 2013. Former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin has also warned of the dire consequences of Congress not doing something. And the firm JP Morgan ...

Clinton’s Legacy: The Financial and Housing Meltdown

by Sheldon Richman October 12, 2012

Bill Clinton is certainly full of himself these days. That might have something to do with the fact that no one is likely to ask why he hasn’t owned up to his share of the blame for the housing and financial bust. The former president is treated like an elder statesman whose tenure in office was so good that even ...

Crisis Response

by Tim Kelly August 30, 2012

The fiscal and monetary response by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve to the economic crisis has been to spend, to borrow, and to inflate the money supply. The result has been skyrocketing debt, continued economic stagnation, and monetary conditions conducive to hyperinflation. Congress passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the fall of 2008, supposedly to avert ...

America’s Collision with Economic Reality

by Tim Kelly March 15, 2012

The United States is headed toward a financial brick wall. Although the country has been on this collision course for decades, a number of recent events have sped up its pace, and the reckoning will probably come much sooner than most people expect. A few honest politicians and some sober economists and political pundits have been ...