Policy Papers
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2013 Sequester in Perspective
March 8, 2013
February 2013 Unemployment Report
February 2013 Unemployment Rate: 7.7 percent Unemployed Americans: 12.0 million “Real” Unemployment The “real” unemployment or U-6 rate is 14.3 percent for February 2013. This is the total percentage of unemployed and underemployed workers. The “real” number of unemployed Americans is 22.6 million. These are people who are unemployed... Continue Reading
March 6, 2013
The Sequester Begins
Last Friday, OMB released its sequestration report. The appendix details the cuts required to each budget account. The report does not detail cuts at the “program, project, and activity” (PPA) level as required by the Budget Control Act and the 1985 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law. So the report does not resolve the question of how much discretion the Administration has in implementing the cuts. The report does detail the cuts at the account level and it also gives the percentage and... Continue Reading
March 5, 2013
Are Taxpayers Getting Their Money’s Worth?
The federal government has grown too big, too unaccountable, and too wasteful. The American people, the President, and independent evaluators have all put forward programs for termination, yet many of these programs continue on, with little action from Congress. The federal government will spend $31,000 per household this year, among the highest in American history, and $5,000 more than in 2008. The question has to be asked: are we getting our money’s... Continue Reading
March 5, 2013
Parade of Pinocchios
In less than one week, the Washington Post Fact Checker closely examined at least five statements from Obama Administration officials regarding the impact of sequestration. The Post concluded that four statements were completely misleading and the jury is still out on the fifth: At the end of last week, President Obama finally conceded that the sequester “is not going to be an apocalypse, I think, as some people have said.” Meanwhile, the American people are still waiting to find... Continue Reading
February 26, 2013
Anatomy of the Sequester
February 26, 2013
Too Much Waste in Washington
President Obama and Senate Democrats have been bewailing the effects of the $85 billion sequestration. What they have not done is offer a serious alternative in the four months since the President declared sequestration “will not happen.” Instead of moving the goalposts, they need to follow (not misinterpret) the law of what sequestration is: to cut spending (not increase taxes). For years, the President has paid lip service to cutting wasteful spending in Washington. But when it... Continue Reading
February 25, 2013
Fed Monetary Assistance Not Easing Soon
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will provide Congress its biannual “Humphrey-Hawkins” monetary policy report tomorrow. The Fed continues to provide monetary assistance in part due to the President’s failed fiscal policies. For the first month of 2013, the Labor Department announced an increase in the unemployment rate to 7.9 percent. The national unemployment rate has been hovering around eight percent for more than a year now. All indications are there will be little to... Continue Reading
February 13, 2013
Questions for Treasury Secretary Nominee Lew
The Constitution requires the Senate consent to many senior executive branch nominations, which provides the Senate a fixed and critical point to review the President’s policies. Nominee Jack Lew has served as White House Chief of Staff and Office of Management and Budget Director in the Obama Administration. The Administration’s budget failures are well known. Here are a set of questions related to how Jack Lew, if confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, might advise the President... Continue Reading
February 12, 2013
Democrats’ Ideas on the Sequester: More Taxes
All indications are that Democrats will propose a sequester delay that is just more taxes on hardworking taxpayers. The tax increases buzzed about among Democrats in Congress and the White House so far include: Buffett Rule: $5.00 billion in first year Oil Tax Provisions: $4.75 billion in first year Carried Interest: $1.30... Continue Reading
February 6, 2013
Not “More than Halfway” to Fiscal Stability
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its 2013 Budget and Economic Outlook with a new budget baseline and economic forecasts. The CBO report makes it clear that meaningful entitlement reform is critical to restoring our nation’s long-term fiscal health. The President has said that we are “more than halfway” to the amount of deficit reduction we need. CBO’s 10-year projections show this is not the case. Even though discretionary spending cuts and revenue... Continue Reading
February 1, 2013
Income Tax Hits 100
“The difference between death and taxes is death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.” – Will Rogers On February 3, 2013, the 16th Amendment – authorizing the federal income tax – will celebrate its 100th birthday. Talk of tax reform has increased in recent years, and there is hope that this centennial could finally be the year our tax code is made simpler, flatter, and easier. Brief History of the U.S. Tax System The Articles of Confederation The Articles... Continue Reading
February 1, 2013
January 2013 Unemployment Report
January 2013 Unemployment Rate: 7.9 percent Unemployed Americans: 12.3 million “Real” Unemployment The “real” unemployment or U-6 rate is 14.4 percent for January 2013. This is the total percentage of unemployed and underemployed workers. The “real” number of unemployed Americans is 22.7 million. These are people who are unemployed (12.3... Continue Reading
January 30, 2013
Needed: Economic Security and Opportunity
Today we learned the U.S. economy has turned negative for the first time in 3 ½ years. Real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2012 contracted at an annualized rate of 0.1 percent. The economy for all of 2012 grew at only 1.5 percent (fourth quarter to fourth quarter). With this negative quarter, down sharply from growth of 3.1 percent last quarter, the U.S. is in danger of slipping back into recession. Republicans are offering pro-growth solutions. Meanwhile Democrats are doubling down on tax... Continue Reading
January 22, 2013
Four Deficit Reduction Options
Deficit reduction must be part of the debate over raising the debt ceiling. As part of that, the White House and Democrats in Congress must abandon their calls for more tax hikes and embrace ways to manage America’s spending. Four options for how that can be done are: Retirement Age Means Testing Tax Reform Chained CPI These are not necessarily policies that all -- or even a majority of -- Republicans would support, but they are among the most frequently discussed. Retirement Age The... Continue Reading
January 22, 2013
Obama Debt Record Harms Next Generation
“We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt.” – President Obama, November 7, 2012 “We don’t have a spending problem.” – President Obama, December 2012 President Obama’s professed concern for our nation’s children is belied by his actual record on debt. He has increased the national debt by nearly $6 trillion since taking office, has offered no serious solutions to our entitlement crisis, and has even ignored... Continue Reading
January 22, 2013
A Debt Limit History for the President
Last December, President Obama misrepresented decades of precedent regarding congressional consideration of the debt limit. In maintaining that he would not negotiate on the debt limit, he said: “If Congress in any way suggests that they’re going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation -- which, by the way, we had never done in our history until we did it last year -- I will not play that... Continue Reading
January 22, 2013
Obama on the Debt: Then and Now
January 15, 2013
Credit Agencies Say We Can’t Afford Path We’re On
The debate over the debt limit is not a debate over whether or not the government should pay its bills. The President is trying to spin this debate by saying, “We can't not pay bills that we've already incurred.” But the nation’s credit agencies have pointed out the obvious: without spending cuts, it is guaranteed that the government will be unable to pay its bills at some point. The choice is between making reasonable reforms now or postponing the day of reckoning to whenever... Continue Reading
January 14, 2013
The Debt Limit: Different This Time
The day after Christmas, Treasury Secretary Geithner notified Congress the government would hit the debt limit on December 31, 2012. The limit was hit again due to Washington’s inability to deal honestly with its overspending problem. President Obama has added nearly $6 trillion to the national debt in less than four years. Now he wants to eliminate the debt limit entirely. Treasury can take certain “extraordinary actions” to keep the debt limit from affecting government... Continue Reading