2012 Elections

Budget Battles

  • Obama’s Bargain: Lower Rates for Higher Spending

    By Eric Pianin

    President Obama intends to make one last pitch for a “grand bargain” of new spending and tax policy on Tuesday that will attempt to marry corporate tax reform with funding for jobs to benefit the...

  • Ominous Signs for the GOP in 2014

    By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal Times

    The conventional wisdom is that Republicans are in good shape going into next year’s congressional elections. Gerrymandering and the enormous benefits of incumbency virtually guarantee them continued...

  • Trading Tax Write-Offs for Real Growth

    By Andrew Fieldhouse, The Fiscal Times

    Overhauling the tax code is a wonky fixation of the D.C. policymaking elite, for good reason — it’s an area loaded with policy nuance, lobbying intrigue and major ramifications for long-term fiscal...

  • IRS Scandal: How the Brouhaha Went Bust

    By Peter Weber, TheWeek.com

    Rep. Darrell Issa is still banging the scandal drum. Is anyone listening anymore?

  • Beer, Burgers, and a Two-Man Blitz on Tax Reform

    By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

    Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) are keeping hope alive that the tax code can be rewritten. Both peg the odds of successful reform at more than 50 percent, according to a joint lunch...

  • The Lose-Lose Job of Cutting Your Top Tax Breaks

    By Eric Pianin

    House Republicans are looking for ways to offset the cost of huge tax cuts by eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax deductions or loopholes that permeate the federal tax code. But...

  • Sluggish Economy Slams Social Security

    By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

    The sluggish economy is taking its toll on the financing for Social Security, with the old age pension program seeing its resource exhaustion date moved up three years to 2033, according to the...

  • The Income Gap: A New Look at an Age-Old Problem

    By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

    Noted University of Texas economist James K. Galbraith has written and edited a new book called “Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis,” which says...

  • What the Wealthy Worry About Most

    By Yuval Rosenberg

    Rich investors are growing increasingly anxious about the economy and their ability to maintain their financial position, a new survey finds.

  • GSA Leader Takes the Fifth

    By Thomas Ferraro, Reuters

    A federal government training conference deteriorated over the past decade from a productive annual gathering into "a raucous, extravagant, arrogant" event, a former U.S. government administrator...