Fiscal Cliff

Budget Battles

  • Norquist: Self-Appointed No-Tax Czar Loses Ground

    By Maureen Mackey, The Fiscal Times

    As lawmakers negotiate to prevent a combined $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts from kicking in beginning in January 2013 – and as the ‘R’ word (revenue) is called inevitable, people are now...

  • The Case for Breaking Up the Big Banks

    By Mark Thoma

    I was pleasantly surprised to hear Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley say in a recent speech that solving the too big to fail problem may require breaking up big banks. He is...

  • Tax Fears Take a Big Chunk Out of Spending

    By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

    The polling firm Gallup just released evidence that the fiscal cliff is putting a real dent in the economy: Daily spending by upper-income households has plunged by 38 percent over the past four...

  • 5 Ways Obama Can Defuse a Fiscal Cliff Stalemate

    By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

    Even if the “do nothing Congress” lives up to its reputation and doesn’t come up with a deal, President Obama could still soften the economic blow of the fiscal cliff. But budget experts say the...

  • Petraeus Scandal Lays Bare the Perks of Power

    By Greg Jaffe, The Washington Post

    Of the many facts that have come to light in the scandal involving former CIA director David H. Petraeus, among the most curious was that during his days as a four-star general, he was once escorted...