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Government Deficits Articles

Recent IMF Economic Report Provides New & Alternative Solutions To The “Fiscal Cliff”

November 13th, 2012

November 2012 The so-called “fiscal cliff” dominates current American news.  Almost everyone agrees that the federal government deficit needs to be reduced, and the vast [...]

The US Fiscal Cliff Is Not The Biggest Challenge

October 15th, 2012

October 2012 Current news reports and commentary provide daily insight into the challenges that will occur if Congress and the President are unable to reach [...]

Because Of Its Government, U.S. Continues Its Recent Drop In Global Competitiveness Ranking

October 1st, 2012

October 2012 The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation founded in 1971 that is best known for its annual worldwide and regional meetings [...]

Tax Expenditures Must Be Part Of The Current Government Funding Debate

August 28th, 2012

August 2012 On August 2, the “Pathway to Job Creation through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Act of 2012” (H.R. 6169) passed the full House [...]

Federal Reserve Makes Rare Two-Year Policy But Current Economic Problems Are Beyond The Fed’s Reach

September 8th, 2011

August 2011 The Federal Reserve made a rare promise to hold short-term interest rates near zero through at least the middle of 2013.  In so [...]

Straight From The IMF The U.S. Is Broke

August 17th, 2011

August 2010 Economists are known for their dry writing style. Consequently, International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports are difficult to read, and are largely ignored by [...]

The ADAAA’s Unintended Consequence On The Federal Budget

August 1st, 2011

July 2011 Serious disagreements exist as to how to “solve” the “debt crisis” prior to the August 2nd deadline. Actually, the debt is simply the [...]

Critically-Important CBO Cost Estimates For President Obama’s Health Care Changes Were Materially Wrong

May 17th, 2011

May 2010 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. The related Health Care [...]

S&P Negative U.S. Debt Outlook Really Is A Big Deal

April 17th, 2011

April 2011 Last week, credit rating agency Standard & Poors changed its outlook on U.S. government debt to negative. The stock market had a bad [...]

Somber Yet Clear U.S. Financial Report Should Be Required Reading For All Citizens

March 17th, 2011

March 2008 The U.S. federal government recently released “The Citizen’s Guide to the 2007 Financial Report of the United States Government”. This is the first [...]

Keeping Track Of Federal Government Spending Is Supposedly Just Too Hard

March 17th, 2011

March 2011 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) again reported that it “cannot render an opinion on the 2010 consolidated financial statements of the federal government, [...]

Moody’s And Bernanke Warn Of U.S. Budget Deficits And Related Credit Rating Problems

March 17th, 2011

March 2010 In the beginning of February, Moody’s Investors Service warned that the triple-A sovereign credit rating of the United States would come under pressure [...]

Obama Commission Presents First Ideas On How To End The U.S. Government Financial Disaster

November 17th, 2010

November 2010 In August 2010, we summarized an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report that concluded the U.S. is broke. Last week the Government Accountability Office [...]

Disastrous Predictions For State And Local Government Pensions

October 17th, 2010

October 2010 This summer, a pair of university professors released a study regarding the size of state government pension obligations, and possible solutions to the [...]

Three States Act As Guinea Pigs In Budget Turmoil

January 18th, 2007

January 2011 The federal deficit’s unsustainable levels have received significant media attention. Less attention has been paid to similar large problems the states face. However, [...]