Many people are finally coming to a realization that should have been evident long ago: Greece’s debts are not going to be repaid. And as discussion turns to who might be next, it seems a good time to revisit the question of whether the United States could some day find itself in similar trouble. I am substantially more optimistic about this than I was a couple of years ago, and here is why.
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Category Archives: budget
I Agree with Ed Lazear (and Alan Auerbach)!
If you dynamic score, dynamically score both expenditure and revenue measures.
The Year in Review: Even More Fantastical Pseudo Economics
To heck with facts… and the scientific method.
Symmetric Application of Dynamic Scoring
Republicans are keen to sacrifice CBO’s role as impartial arbiter of fiscal measures on the altar of “dynamic scoring” of tax measures.[0] But there is no economic reason for restricting this approach to only tax measures.
Keynesian Cassandras? The Sequester Re-Assessed
Professor Tyler Cowen’s anti-Keynesian manifesto has been ably discussed by Professor Simon Wren-Lewis at Mainly Macro. I thought what merited additional attention is Professor Cowen’s first assertion:
1. Keynesians predicted disaster following the American fiscal sequester, and the pace of the recovery accelerated.
A Farewell to Arms?
No more military Keynesianism after G.W. Bush?
What have the nonpartisan research agencies ever done for us?
Updated 11/24 2:45PM Pacific to include a list of candidates the GOP is mulling to replace Elmendorf, including Bill Beach (!!!)
(For the youth of today, here is the reference.)
(Fiscally) Bleeding Kansas
The deterioration in Kansas state finances not only continues unabated — it is seemingly accelerating.
Update on the UK Recovery
From the The Courier, “Osborne defends austerity measures”:
George Osborne, who has announced plans for a further £3.2 billion squeeze on welfare bill which will hit 10 million of the unemployed and working poor, warned they would be among the ones who would “suffer the most” if there was another crisis.
Kansas: Continued Budget Hemorrhaging
With lagging economic growth, and the massive tax cuts, revenues are falling below projection. From The Topeka Capital Journal today:
Tax collections by Kansas state government in September fell a sobering $21 million below projections to mark the fourth time in the past six months revenue failed to match targets, officials said Tuesday.