The “fiscal cliff,” as it is known in Washington, remains poorly understood outside Washington, because it is technical and political and unrelated to adultery. But it’s important, because unless President Obama and Congress can work out a deal to avoid the cliff by January 1, the U.S. could plunge into a recession. Here are …
Budgets
How to Close the Deficit (A Little)
My colleague Fareed Zakaria has a really smart column today about Germany’s role in the Greek debt crisis–and guess what? He’s not bashing the Germans for fiscal austerity. He’s praising them for the compassion they’ve shown, at a stiff cost to German taxpayers, to keep the Greeks afloat. For me, though, the most interesting thing about …
What We’ve Learned from Paul Ryan’s New Budget
Republicans’ cherubic budget crusader, Paul Ryan, unveiled the latest House GOP budget on Tuesday morning. It won’t become law anytime soon, but it can still tell us a few things about the state of fiscal politics in 2012.
The Proposed 2013 Defense Budget: ‘Shaving the Balloon’
The Obama Administration came to a fork in the road this year on military spending: given the financial pressures facing the nation, it could have fundamentally set U.S. defense policy on a new path. Or it could have kept pretty much everything and just sucked it in as it tightened its belt. It has elected to do the latter, and that’s …
White House Budget as Political Manifesto: Obama’s $3.8 Trillion Plan for American Revival
With a divided Congress still standing at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the annual White House budget isn’t a policy proposal destined for markup in the subcommittee rooms of the Capitol. It’s a statement of principle.
Clip’n’Save of the Day
The reactionary socialists over at the Congressional Budget Office have created a fantastic infographic for understanding federal spending, debt and taxation right now in the U.S.:
Hurricane Politics
Hurricane Irene wreaked billions of dollars in damage, inundated cities and towns and killed at least 35. For hundreds of thousands more, it was either a life-changing calamity or a close call. But for politicians, it was also a chance to showcase leadership and promote their vision of government in a moment of peril. President Obama …
Eric Cantor Shoots Back: Still No Compromise on Taxes
In a memo to his House Republican caucus released after Obama spoke on Monday afternoon, Majority Leader Eric Cantor doubled down on his insistence that there be no tax increases included in the next round of deficit negotiations. Though this position ignores the fact that taxes are set to go up automatically in 2013 if Congress does not …
Budget Negotiations: Biden’s Gang Gets Started
After meeting for two hours Thursday, the latest lawmakers to be tasked with solving the budget puzzle emerged from Blair House with Opening Day optimism. Vice President Joe Biden called it a “good, productive” session. “We …
Blair House Confab: Deficit Debate Not Getting Any Easier
Democrats and Republicans managed to work out a controversial tax-cut deal in December. Then they managed to work out a controversial spending-cut deal in April. Now they just need to work out a deal to raise the debt limit, …
How To Steal From Your Children And Grandchildren With Medicare
Ahh, the children and grandchildren. Politicians love to describe how big-bad Washington is robbing them blind. “Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren,” then Sen. Barack Obama declared in 2006, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling. “Passing on ever-increasing …
Karl Rove Hates “Politicos”
In today’s WSJ Karl Rove writes with disdain about the way the Obama White House is framing the coming debt limit fight on its own terms–namely, that any debt increase needs to be “clean,” without GOP budget riders, and that gamesmanship around the vote could spook the markets and wreck the economy. Rove argues that this is misguided, …
Political Deja Vu: Remembering that Other Gang of Six…
Count me among those skeptical that a new deficit summit/commission/gang will produce bipartisan consensus – and not just political theater. It’s no big secret what needs to be done to reduce the nation’s debt – raise taxes, cut spending or do both. While the details of what gets cut and who gets taxed are open to negotiation, …