In an August 8 commentary, Congressional Budget Office director Doug Elmendorf discussed discretionary spending under the recently enacted Budget Control Act of 2011.
On August 8, I posted an article about the 1981 Reagan tax cut and its impact on federal revenues.
And on August 8, Harvard law professor Mark Roe posted a commentary on the first American debt crisis in the 1780s.
On August 6, the Treasury Department issued a statement highly critical of the Standard and Poor’s credit report.
On August 5, Standard and Poor’s issued a credit report on the United States. The Treasury’s bond rating was reduced from AAA to AA+.
An August 4 New York Times/CBS News poll found that 44 percent of people primarily blame the Bush administration for the budget deficit and only 15 percent blame Obama. The poll also found that by better than a 2-to-1 margin, people favor creating jobs over cutting spending.
In an August 2 commentary, bond market analyst Bill Gross argued that the budget deal barely makes a dent in the federal government’s long-term liabilities. He continues to believe that inflation and financial repression will ultimately be necessary to reduce the burden.
In an August 1 commentary, Harvard economist Edward Glaeser discussed the pros and cons of a balanced budget amendment.
On August 1, Macroeconomic Advisers estimated the economic impact of the budget deal.
In an August 1 commentary, Brookings Institution political scientist Sarah Binder discussed the record of past budget commissions.
I last posted items on this topic on August 2.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
