by jpitney | Dec 20, 2024 | Budget, Congress, Debt, Economic Policy
Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: Since 1976 there have been 21 government shutdowns, the longest lasting 34 days, from Dec. 22, 2018 to Jan. 25, 2019. The second longest was 21 days in December 1995 (“the Gingrich that stole Christmas”). And the third longest was 16...
by jpitney | Dec 14, 2024 | Economic Policy, Trade
Colin Grabow, associate director at the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies The next Congress should prioritize repealing or significantly reforming numerous Buy American–style laws that force the federal government to purchase American...
by jpitney | Oct 21, 2024 | Debt, Economic Policy, Social Security
Michael Strain at The Financial Times: The first step to solve the budget problem is to acknowledge it. But at Harris and Trump’s presidential debate, the word “debt” was not mentioned once. Nor can it be found in the 2024 Republican party platform. Harris makes only...
by jpitney | Oct 5, 2024 | Economic Policy, Trade
Nathan Gardels at Noema: For all these divergent industrial strategies to succeed in the end depends largely on whether sustained nation-building investment outstrips the duration of protective measures that ought to be only a temporary respite from asymmetrical...
by jpitney | Jul 20, 2024 | Debt, Economic Policy, Social Security
Brian Riedl nails it at Reason: Paradoxically, the faster government debt escalates toward an inevitable debt crisis, the less politicians and voters seem to care. In the 1980s and 1990s, more modest deficits dominated economic policy debates and prompted six...
by jpitney | Jun 28, 2024 | California Politics, Economic Policy, Education, Health
Betty Márquez Rosales at EdSource: California’s children rank in the bottom third of all states in overall well-being, according to a new report released this week. The authors of the report, “2024 KIDS COUNT Data Book: State Trends in Child Well-Being,” found...
