The Debt

Deficit Owls Say You Shouldn’t Give a Hoot About $1 Trillion Budget Shortfall

By Yuval Rosenberg

As warnings rise about the Congressional Budget Office’s projection that the federal budget deficit is on pace to top $1 trillion in 2020, The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein on Friday highlighted a...
How Congress Cheats with Our Money — and How We Can Stop It

By Marc Goldwein and Zach Moller

The U.S. is on course to top its record debt levels set after World War II, and permanent trillion-dollar deficits — meaning, forever — are likely to return within two years . And unlike after World...
April Is Financial Literacy Month. Someone Tell Congress.

By Joseph J. Minarik and Caroline L. Ferguson

February is Black History Month, March is National Women’s Month, and April? Well, it’s Financial Literacy Month, of course! The U.S. government gave financial literacy its own month in 2003. April...
Why All the Warnings About Unsustainable National Debt Could Be Wrong

By Michael Rainey

International economists are warning about rising global debt levels and deficit hawks in Washington are increasingly worried about what they see as unsustainable debt levels in the U.S., but a new...
The US Has an Exceptional Debt Outlook – and Not in a Good Way

By Michael Rainey

The International Money Fund’s latest global fiscal survey warns that in five years, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio will be higher than Italy’s, a nation not generally known for its exemplary fiscal...

When the Budget Won’t Balance, Just Get Rid of the Budget Committee?

By Michael Rainey

It may sound like a joke — Erik Sherman of Forbes said it seemed like something “from The Onion or Andy Borowitz at the New Yorker, only with less humor and pith” — but Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), chair...
With Recent Laws, Congress Has Added $540 Billion to the 2019 Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Spending hikes and tax cuts passed since 2015 under the Trump and Obama administrations account for $540 billion of next year’s projected $981 billion budget deficit, or 55 percent, according to...
Extending the Individual Tax Cuts Would Reduce Economic Growth: Penn Wharton Budget Model

By Michael Rainey

Most of the individual tax cuts in the GOP tax overhaul that became law in December are scheduled to expire after 2025, but Republican lawmakers are expected to try to make them permanent well before...
Why Trillion-Dollar Deficits Matter

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office confirmed this week that the deficit is on pace to surpass $1 trillion in 2020 and climb higher from there barring action by leaders in Washington, potentially...
Paul Ryan's Fiscal Legacy: Lots of Red Ink

By Yuval Rosenberg

House Speaker Paul Ryan announced Wednesday that he won’t seek re-election this year and will retire at the end of his term in January, becoming the most prominent in a wave of Republican lawmakers...

Are the GOP Tax Cuts Spooking the Stock Market?

By Michael Rainey

After a prolonged and unprecedented period of stock market calm, investors are looking for someone or something to blame for the recent sharp drop in equities and Tuesday’s volatile swings. The...
The Return of the Bond Vigilante Argument

By Michael Rainey

As the fear of inflation rattles Wall Street, Politico asks if we’re seeing the return of the “bond vigilantes” — investors who drive up interest rates by selling bonds when they think inflation is...
Numbers of the Day: 665.75 and 2.852

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 666 points, or about 2.5 percent, on Friday after the monthly payrolls reports showed employers added 200,000 jobs in January — and annual wage growth was...
New US Debt Could Push Interest Rates Higher

By Yuval Rosenberg

As budget deficits rise this year and for the next several years thanks in part to the recently passed GOP tax cuts, the U.S. Treasury will have to ramp up its borrowing. A group of private banks...
Treasury Will Hit Debt Ceiling Sooner Than Expected

By Michael Rainey

Government funding isn’t the only important deadline that’s approaching rapidly. According to a report released by the Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury could run out of...