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Reflections on a Federal Budget Impasse... During the February budget showdown in Washington, Senator Rand Paul rose to speak. He reminded America of our spending habit – a constant pattern of deficit spending, year-in and year-out, in both Republican and Democrat administrations. A spending habit that doesn’t just cause a year of trouble, but an eternity of trouble, since these deficits add up, year by year, into a mountainous national debt, one that doubled – Doubled! – in just the eight years of the Obama administration alone. And he is right. ... But this is not one of those areas...

After failing to pass any significant legislation during most of President Donald Trump's first year in office, the Republican-controlled Congress was finally able to pass a major tax reform bill in the waning minutes of 2017. But beyond not getting in the way of the administration's efforts to crack down on abusive federal regulations, the party that never missed an opportunity to bemoan the previous Democratic administration's profligacy continued to show little interest in addressing the country's spending-driven fiscal problems. Will 2018 be any different? The country is now $20.6 trillion in debt, and a return to the annual trillion-dollar...

If Congress fails to comprehensively reform Medicare, seniors will miss out on significant savings, and taxpayers will miss out on the opportunity to slow the program’s cost growth.In an interview with “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) cast doubt on the prospect for comprehensive Medicare reform on the congressional agenda in 2018: “There are some provider issues that we may be addressing as you know. Some providers in the Medicare field in some cases are getting overpaid. We want to make sure that’s being dealt with. But as far as you’re talking about beneficiaries, we’re not...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cuts rates for most tax brackets, substantially reduces business taxes, increases the standard deduction, and eliminates many tax loopholes and deductions. Congress passed historic, far-reaching tax reform legislation this week, and President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law soon after some technical fixes. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cuts rates for most tax brackets, substantially reduces corporate and small business taxes, increases the standard deduction for individuals and couples, and eliminates many tax loopholes and deductions.Since Republicans first rolled out their plan to implement tax reform, liberal pundits and Democrats...

With Congress wrestling over a tax reform plan that critics say would explode the government budget deficit, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she also is concerned over the surging level of public debt. A Senate committee passed the GOP-sponsored proposal, which would slash the corporate tax rate and lower individual income rates for many Americans.However, the price tag of the plan is in the area of $1.5 trillion at a time when the Congressional Budget Official already is projecting a deficit of more than $1 trillion in the years ahead and with the total debt level at $20.6 trillion...

Should the government borrow against the future? Should it guarantee higher taxes for your children and grandchildren in return for lower taxes for you? If government's moral legitimacy depends on the consent of the governed, as Thomas Jefferson argued in the Declaration of Independence, can the federal government morally compel those who haven't consented to its financial profligacy -- because they are not yet born -- to pay higher taxes? These questions are at the base of the debate -- such as it is -- in Congress these days over the so-called Republican tax reform plan. But you will not...

A SHIFT IN THOUGHT   Desperate for a legislative win, Republicans are preparing to push through a tax-cut package that analysts say could add considerably to the deficit. Voices on the right expressing concern about red ink have been few and far between. WASHINGTON—Republicans have a storied tradition of minding the nation’s fiscal store. Calvin Coolidge pushed for tax cuts, but also for spend-less-than-you-earn budgets. After World War II, the party contributed to fiscal plans that rapidly unwound a war-related surge in debt. In ​the 1990s, ​members of the GOP supported spending restraints that helped usher in a brief era...

WASHINGTON -- Speaking to a group of workers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his proposed tax-cut package "will be rocket fuel" for the U.S. economy.It was Trump's sly way of reinforcing a message that the White House has sent since it first rolled out a framework for the tax cut in April. The message: Instead of adding to the $20 trillion national debt, the GOP tax cut will pay for itself; there's no need to produce some $5 trillion in savings over the next decade to pay for the cuts.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin uttered that mantra...

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,The point is the present system cannot endure.Despite all the happy talk about "recovery" and higher growth, wages have gone nowhere since 2000--and for the bottom 20% of workers, they've gone nowhere since the 1970s.Gross domestic product (GDP) has risen smartly since 2000, but the share of GDP going to wages and salaries has plummeted: this is simply an extension of a 47-year downtrend.Last month I posted one reason Why We're Doomed: Our Economy's Toxic Inequality (August 16, 2017). The second half of why we're doomed is stagnant wages. Why do stagnating...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there is “zero chance” Congress will allow the country to default on its debts by voting to not increase the borrowing limit. McConnell’s comments came Monday during a joint appearance in his home state of Kentucky with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It was one of McConnell’s first public appearances since President Donald Trump publicly criticized him for failing to pass a repeal and replacement of former President Barack Obama’s health care law. McConnell did not mention Trump in his remarks, and he did not take questions from reporters after the event. But in...

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says federal borrowing limit must increase by Sept. 29, giving lawmakers little time after recess to act Republicans are leaving town for an August recess after a failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. When they return in September, they’ll have just 12 working days to avert another big problem. In a letter to lawmakers Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the federal borrowing limit, or debt ceiling, needed to be raised by Sept. 29 or the government risked running out of money to pay its bills.

"Fed Chair Janet Yellen says that in looking at asset prices and valuations, the central bank is 'not trying to opine on whether they're correct'; instead, policy makers are assessing the risk of potential spillovers. As asset prices rise, there hasn't been a substantial increase in borrowing, Yellen said. [The] financial system is strong and resilient." I assume chair Yellen is referring to U.S. non-financial and non-government borrowings. Clearly, central bank Credit and government borrowings have expanded spectacularly around the globe. I suspect as well there has been a major expansion in speculative leveraging and securities Credit at home and...

The amount of money the government spends on programs and the amount it collects in taxes could change from the budget office projections, so the office warns that the Treasury could run out of funds even earlier. Currently, the federal deficit stands at $693 billion, which is an increase of $134 billion than what it projected in January. The federal government has an outstanding debt of $19.8 trillion, which includes $14.3 trillion in public debt and $5.5 trillion held by government accounts. Spending on major government programs such as Social Security and Medicare causes the amount of borrowing to increase....

How much a Constitutional Budget would cost? During this entire budgeting and continuing resolution process, there are two words that will never be put together. They are “constitutional,” and “budget.” Why? Because no one in Washington wants to be restrained by the Constitution when it comes to getting money, spending money, and especially spending money they don’t have. Which is why we are some $20 trillion in for the National Debt. But it never had to be this way. It’s one thing to talk about the Constitution. It’s quite another to actually live by it. The Supreme Court doesn’t. They...

In survey after survey, most Americans tell pollsters they want politicians to address the national debt. Support for specific policies may ebb and flow over time, but what rarely changes are the promises politicians make and break in response. Image via Musée McCordAlmost all politicians pledge to spend responsibly while on the stump, but once they’re in office, voters are at the mercy of a system so complex and crisis-driven it becomes all but impossible to know who’s keeping their word.So who is?As only someone who founded and runs an organization dedicated to reforming federal spending can tell you, understanding...

This is not going to get done without you. Last week the Trump Administration announced its tax reform proposal. It’s impressive and a major departure from the tax code mess we have today. I believe it’s bold and will work to boost the economy without exploding the national debt. Remember, I have been studying tax reform proposals for decades. I served on the Kemp Commission for Economic Growth and Tax Reform in the early 1990s. I’m very familiar with, and supportive of, the Flat Tax, the Fair Tax and of course my own 9-9-9 plan.

The federal government once again hit the debt ceiling. The ceiling limits the amount of money the federal government can borrow — a number that was set at $20.1 trillion. Although the issue should have been dealt with in 2015, then-Speaker John Boehner capitulated to President Obama and postponed the debt limit until March 16, 2017. Since then, the federal debt has grown by $1,414,397,000,000 — more than one trillion in less than two years. President Trump promised during his campaign to bring back American prosperity and make Washington work for everyone — not just for the small group of...

USA Today is reporting that the government may shut down by this coming Friday if Congress does not provide President Trump with a bill to keep it going. Congress returns Monday with just five days left to keep the government from shutting down, and President Trump is adding to the pressure by demanding money for a Southwest border wall and other controversial programs that threaten a bipartisan deal. Lawmakers passed a stop-gap spending bill in December to fund federal agencies through midnight next Friday. Congressional leaders are now scrambling to reach a bipartisan compromise on new legislation to keep the...

With the national deficit rapidly approaching 20 trillion, it is truly remarkable how little attention the national deficit is receiving in the daily political debate between the Republican administration and the Democratic opposition but also by media and public. Everybody understands that an at this rate the growing national deficit is not sustainable, and will bankrupt the country. But even maintaining the deficit at current levels burdens our children and grandchildren with unfair obligations, which we did not inherit from our parents and grandparents and, therefore, should not pass on to the next generations. The almost uniform rejection of next...

The portion of the federal debt that is subject to a legal limit set by Congress plummeted by $56,758,000,000 on March 15 hitting its lowest level of 2017, according to the Daily Treasury Statement. On that same day, the federal debt hit its legal limit, according to the same Daily Treasury Statements. For the 15 days since then, according to the Treasury’s statements, the debt subject to the limit has been frozen at $19,808,747,000,000—approximately $25 million below the new legal limit. The debt was able to hit its legal limit—even on a day when it was plunging dramatically—because when the...