by jpitney | Feb 24, 2021 | Debt, Economic Policy
Many posts have discussed the deficit and the debt. Policymakers and the general public have tended to ignore these problems in recent years, in part because of low inflation and interest rates. We have not had a double-digit annual increase in the consumer price...
by jpitney | Dec 28, 2020 | Budget, Congress, Debt, Economic Policy
Scott Newsome at LegBranch.org on reforming the Congressional Budget Act (CBA): First, section 310(a) of the CBA, which outlines the reconciliation process, is currently silent on the issue of whether it can be used to increase or decrease deficits. This leaves that...
by jpitney | Dec 21, 2020 | Congress, Coronavirus, Deliberation, Economic Policy
First Branch Forecast: You gotta be kidding. We prep this newsletter during the week and finalize it over the weekend. Alas, there’s no way we could possibly evaluate what is in the appropriations + COVID bill(s) for you — and there’s no way most Members of Congress...
by jpitney | Nov 24, 2020 | Debt, Economic Policy
Some policymakers think that the federal debt is a free lunch: growth rates will always exceed interest rates, allowing growth itself to reduce the debt. This theory is badly flawed, explain Sita Slavov and Alan Viard at The Hill: There is always a chance that the...
by jpitney | Nov 22, 2020 | Debt, Economic Policy
From the Congressional Budget Office: In fiscal year 2020, which ended on September 30, the federal budget deficit totaled $3.1 trillion—more than triple the shortfall recorded in fiscal year 2019. Much of that amount was the result of the economic effects of the...
by jpitney | Sep 3, 2020 | Debt, Economic Policy
From the Congressional Budget Office: Deficits. CBO projects a federal budget deficit of $3.3 trillion in 2020, more than triple the shortfall recorded in 2019. That increase is mostly the result of the economic disruption caused by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and...
