A couple of weeks ago, I offered some guarded praise for Paul Ryan’s budget, pointing out that it satisfies the most important requirement of fiscal policy by restraining spending – to an average of 3.1 percent per year over the next 10 years – so that government…
Daily Analysis
Congressman Ryan’s Budget Restrains Spending Growth, Allows Private Sector to Expand Faster than Burden of Government
The Chairman of the House Budget Committee has produced a new budget plan which contrasts very favorably with the tax-heavy, big-spending proposal submitted by the President last month. Perhaps most important, Congressman Ryan’s plan restrains spending growth,…
A Test for the GOP: Shutting Down the Spigot of Corporate Welfare at the Export-Import Bank
Republicans are telling voters that they’ve learned the hard lessons from the 2006 and 2008 elections and that they are back on the side of taxpayers. I’m not convinced, which is why I’ve outlined some key tests that will demonstrate whether the GOP genuinely supports…
By Restraining Burden of Federal Spending, Senator Paul Shows How It’s Simple to Balance the Budget
Last year, while lounging on the beach in the Caribbean…oops, I mean while doing off-site research, I developed the first iteration of a rule to describe how fiscal policy should operate. Good fiscal policy exists when the private sector grows faster than the public…
The Return of Much-Needed Medicaid Reform
Last year, I narrated a CF&P video making the case for Medicaid reform. The proposal is very simple: Replicate the success of the welfare reform of the 1990s by block granting the program and giving states full autonomy to figure out how best to provide health…
Saying No to Additional IMF Bailout Money Should Be a Minimum Test for the GOP
In a grand Washington tradition, I periodically make imperious demands. In the past year or two, I’ve issued the following ultimatums to the GOP. o No tax increases, since more money for Washington will encourage a bigger burden of government and undermine prosperity….
A Fiscal Policy Tutorial: Everything You Need to Know about the Economics of Government Spending
Almost exactly one year ago, I did a post entitled “A Laffer Curve Tutorial” because I wanted readers to have all the arguments and data in one place (and also because it meant I wouldn’t have to track down all the videos when someone asked me for the full set)….
Senator Ron Johnson Exposes Obama’s “Frugal Budget”
I mentioned yesterday that Senator Johnson of Wisconsin did a good job at the Senate Budget Committee’s hearing on tax reform. Today, I want to elaborate on two of his points. First, he asked all three of the witnesses what the maximum marginal tax rate on any…
Should the IRS Be Squandering $15 Million on P.R. Flacks to Improve its Image?
The overwhelming fiscal policy challenge for America is entitlement programs, as I explain in this set of videos. To protect America from becoming another Greece, we need personal retirement accounts for Social Security. We need vouchers for Medicare. And we need to…
A Lesson for Krugman, et al, about Canada’s Real Fiscal Restraint vs. the United Kingdom’s Faux Austerity
Demonstrating that he’s probably not a fan of Mitchell’s Golden Rule, Paul Krugman recently asserted that fiscal austerity has failed in the United Kingdom. Citing Keynesian theory and weak economics numbers, he warned about “the austerity doctrine that has dominated…