In the last four years the federal government has both cut government revenue and dramatically increased spending. It’s an unsettling combination, the precise long-term results of which will be debated by economists like myself until the cows come home. But at least one thing is already certain: The fiscal impact of all the federal COVID-19 […]
There’s a reason economics is frequently called the “dismal science.” What’s happening: The US economy is on track for a boom, with the Federal Reserve predicting last week that it would expand by 6.5% this year. That would mark the fastest growth since 1984, when Ronald Reagan was serving his first term as president. But a […]
Right on cue, as soon as President Joe Biden is elected, Republicans are expressing hysteria about the national debt. But fun fact: This is a brand new worry for the GOP. They weren’t worried about it when the previous president gave billions of dollars of tax breaks to rich people and their businesses. They didn’t […]
Well fellow American, your $1,400 stimulus check is in the mail, and all it’s going to cost you and every other man, woman and child in the country is an extra $6,000 of your share or so in national debt. So in other words, this may be the most efficient spending of money by the […]
The U.S. budget deficit continues to widen to unprecedented levels, Wednesday data from the Treasury Department shows, all while the government gears up to pump $1.9 trillion more into the economy with President Joe Biden’s massive stimulus package. KEY FACTS The gap between government spending and revenue rose to more than $1 trillion in the […]
To the Editor: I can’t think of a better time for the government to cut back on spending and start paying down debt (“As the Covid-19 Pandemic Wanes, the U.S. Economy Could Soar,” Cover Story, March 12). As the virus is vanquished, it’s time to put the growth engine of the economy back in the […]
We are spending money we simply don’t have, and it will come back to bite us. No one seems to be talking about the national debt, which hit a whopping $28 trillion this month. Does anyone care? We should. I know and realize our country is fighting this deadly pandemic. But there will always be […]
Despite overseeing trillions of dollars of red ink during Donald Trump’s presidency, the GOP is rediscovering its past embrace of fiscal discipline. After getting steamrolled by Democrats on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid plan, Republicans are planning to fight back. And it could mean an autumn of stalemates over raising the debt ceiling, […]
Legislators view the disease as a license to spend like there’s no tomorrow. The “recovery rebates” that Americans began receiving this week supposedly have something to do with the economic damage caused by COVID-19 and the control measures it inspired. But like most of the so-called American Rescue Plan Act, these payments, which account for more […]
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money,” Alexis de Tocqueville supposedly said after an 1831 visit to the United States. Whether or not the French diplomat and political scientist actually made this observation is a subject of debate. But whoever came up […]
