Update 410 — Trump’s Trillion Dollar Legacy 10-Year Cost in Interest Expense: $5.9 Trillion Whether many Americans will feel indebted to Donald Trump for his policies is TBD. Per this week’s CBO report on the nation’s fiscal future, though, all Americans will be indebted by him. A look at the fiscal legacy of the Trump administration, …
Update 391 — Silver Lining on the Horizon(How) Do Automatic Stabilizers Really Work? Economists now speak of the next recession in terms of when, not whether. As the recession approaches ever closer, so too do increases in fiscal stimulus known as “automatic stabilizers,” such as unemployment insurance, representing a silver lining. How do these triggers …
Update 386 — FY 2020: Budgeting by DefaultHas “Fiscal Policy” Become an Oxymoron?The Federal budget-making process could fairly be described as broken. If it can fairly be described as a process at all. There’s the law — the statutory deadlines, constantly being waived or disregarded by Congress. Then there’s practice — some assortment of appropriations …
Update 371: Ends Meet in Budget Agreement;Further Fiscal Hostilities Postponed ‘til 2021 Like a thunderclap on a sunny day, a budget agreement has appeared almost from nowhere to remove us from threat of a government shutdown or sovereign default this fall. A compromise between the House and the White House, the deal bears signal progressive …
Update 346 — FY 2020 Coming into ViewBackward, Baby Steps So Far; Cliff 2.0 Looms As Congress departs for a two-week recess, it leaves behind a budget process with miles to go. Where does the FY 2020 budget making process stand, what steps are ahead, what is at stake, and what are the obstacles to …
Update 323 — Wall or Nothing WH Stays Aloof Trump Unmoved: Let Them Make Adjustments Before the holiday break, we wrote an update on the budget wranglings over Trump’s border wall. At the time, it looked likely that the government was heading for a partial shutdown. The record-breaking shutdown is now in its 25th day. …
Update 320 — Budget Outcome Still TBD After Wall-Eyed White House Fakes Out GOP Donald Trump’s decision yesterday not to sign Congress’ extension of a continuing resolution in place since September 28 to February 8 of next year has brought both the budget process and the federal government to the brink of shutdown. It seems …
Wall-Eyed White House Fakes Out GOP (December 21) Read More »
Update 311: Economic Policy Issues Throughout the 2018 Midterm Campaign As we look ahead to next week’s midterms, we take a look back at four of the key economic policy themes that have played out this cycle. Across the country this cycle we have seen common themes and policies resonating with voters in seemingly disparate …
Economic Policy Issues Throughout the 2018 Midterms (November 2) Read More »
Update 301: Your Need-to-Know on the Budget GOP Takes What Could be Final Fiscal Bites In what could be its fiscal swan song, the GOP congressional majority has, as of this writing, approved about 75 percent of discretionary spending for FY 19, which starts on October 1. Will the bill(s) be enacted and a …
Update 277 – Whither Social Security, on the Vine? Or Really Just in Need of a Fix in Time? This week’s Social Security Trustee Report — little noticed only in part because it was not alarming — was another reminder that the nation is in arrears in maintaining its social infrastructure. This we have long known. Less appreciated …
