The Debt

Trump Is Hitting Economy’s Accelerator and Brakes at the Same Time: Analyst

By Yuval Rosenberg

Stocks have experienced some dramatic swings in recent days as investors try to digest and make sense of corporate earnings; rising interest rates and conflicting monetary and fiscal policy;...
Republicans Ignore the Obvious Effect of Their Tax Cuts

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump, top administration officials and Republican congressional leaders claim that the rising deficit, which grew 17 percent to $779 billion in fiscal 2018, is not the result of their tax...
Mitch McConnell on Rising Deficit: ‘It’s Not a Republican Problem'

By Yuval Rosenberg

The quotes: “It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem. It’s a bipartisan problem: unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the...
Federal Deficit Jumps 17 Percent to $779 Billion

By Yuval Rosenberg

Despite a strong economy and robust job market, the federal budget deficit swelled to $779 billion in fiscal 2018, up $113 billion from 2017, according to final numbers released Monday by the...
Mnuchin Spins a False Claim About Tax Cuts and the Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office projected last week that the federal government’s fiscal 2018 deficit would total $782 billion. The final numbers will be released by the Treasury Department, but...

A Fiscal Hawk’s New Plan to ‘Avert a Debt Crisis’

By Yuval Rosenberg

The national debt rose by more than $1 trillion in fiscal 2018, and yet lawmakers have evinced little concern about it ahead of this year’s elections, instead pushing tax cuts and spending increases...
How GOP Rhetoric on Entitlements Has Changed

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The Washington Post’s David Weigel describes how Republicans have changed their tune on Medicare and, for this year at least, largely abandoned the idea of entitlement reform: “[O]ver eight years,...
The Post-Election Outlook: ‘Debt, Debt and More Debt’

By Yuval Rosenberg

The 2018 elections are looking like a lose-lose proposition for the U.S. bond market, according to Bloomberg’s Liz McCormick and Alex Harris : “If Democrats take the House, it raises the odds that...
Deficit Jumped to $782 Billion in 2018 – and It’s Only Going to Get Bigger

By Michael Rainey

You might have missed this with everything else going on in the world, but the Congressional Budget Office said Friday that the deficit for fiscal year 2018 rose to $782 billion, a big jump from the...
Why Rising Interest Rates Really Matter

By Michael Rainey

The job market is “sizzling,” says Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, thanks in part to the deficit-financed tax cuts and government spending increases that went into effect this year. The...

Extending Tax Cuts and Spending Hikes Would Raise Debt to Record Level by 2029: CBO

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office, in its long-term outlook released in June, projected that federal debt held by the public would increase sharply over the next 30 years, climbing from 78 percent of...
The Deficit Is Up 20% This Year

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The federal deficit was 20 percent larger in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2018 than it was during the same time last year, the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday. Revenues rose 1...
$Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during an event to introduce the "Medicare for All Act of 2017\$

Putting a Price Tag on the Democratic Socialist Agenda

By Michael Rainey

A number of policy proposals associated with the “democratic socialist” agenda of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are gaining ground in the Democratic Party and will likely play a role in...
Here’s What’s at Stake in November: Tax Cuts, a Shutdown and Obamacare Repeal

By Michael Rainey

A lot can change over the next three months, but right now Democrats look likely to win control of the House of Representatives. They currently hold the lead in both generic ballot polls and the...
Buybacks Could Hit $1 Trillion This Year: Goldman Sachs

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Companies in the S&P 500 will likely authorize a record $1 trillion in stock buybacks in 2018, according to an estimate released by Goldman Sachs Friday. Buyback announcements have surged to $754...