Jan 20, 2010
Contestant #1 In Our Spending Challenge
Yesterday, we challenged those of you opposed to tax hikes to take the...
Blog
Welcome to our blog – The Bottom Line, where you’ll find up-to-date commentary and analysis on the most important news in the fiscal world. Below is a list of our blog posts.
Jan 20, 2010
Budget Takes Back Seat Among Mass. Voters
Even though they're sending a self-proclaimed deficit hawk to the Senate, Massachusetts voters don't see the budget as a major problem, if...
Jan 19, 2010 | Health Care
Don't Just Keep the Medicare Commission, Strengthen It
The Independent Payment Advisory Board (AKA the Medicare Commission) is one of the most important pieces of healthcare reform. This commission should...
Jan 19, 2010
Three More FDIC Bank Closings
On Friday evening, the FDIC reported that it has taken over an additional three banks (...
Jan 19, 2010
No New Taxes? Then Take the Spending Challenge
Obviously the fiscal situation facing the country is bad. Deficits are massive; the debt is headed towards unprecedented territory; and the weak...
Jan 15, 2010 | Budgets & Projections
In Defense of the Deficit Commission
Today, the AARP sent an...
On the President's Spending Cuts....
Yesterday -- citing CRFB's work -- The Stephen...
Jan 14, 2010 | Economics
Announcing the "Announcement Effect Club"
Since CRFB called for a Fiscal Recovery Plan in July, a growing number of...
Jan 14, 2010 | Economics
Jobs and Policy
At the start of the new decade, one in every ten Americans is unemployed. By broader measures of unemployment (including discouraged workers who...
House Sustains Obama Veto of CR; Budgeteers Yawn
The House voted Wednesday to sustain President Obama's veto of a Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded. Huh? Confused? Why wasn't this...
Two Major Reports Target Debt Reduction
In the past two days, at least two new voices have joined a growing chorus of organizations warning that our federal debt is growing at an...
Jan 13, 2010
First Hearing for the FCIC
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which was established to examine the causes of the...
Jan 12, 2010 | Taxes
Top Ten Tax Expenditures: JCT releases its annual report
Earlier this week the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the congressional group that provides...
Jan 12, 2010 | Budgets & Projections
Fed Earns Money, TARP Loses It
The Federal Reserve announced, this morning, that it will...
Moving the Tax Expiration Goal Posts
The President may choose to submit a budget in which he extends the Bush tax cuts only temporarily—say for two years, rather than permanently...
Deficit Hawks Love their Cake
Over the weekend one of our favorite bloggers, EconomistMom, joined an important discussion prompted by a Stan Collender blog that called out deficit...
Jan 11, 2010 | Budget Process
David Walker and the Federal Deficit on NPR
This morning on NPR’s Morning Edition one of our board members, David Walker, discussed his new book, Comeback America: Turning...
Jan 11, 2010
One More FDIC Bank Closing
On January 8, the FDIC reported that it has taken over an additional bank (Horizon Bank) for a cost to the FDIC of about $540 billion. This brings...
Jan 8, 2010 | Budgets & Projections
CBO Monthly Budget Review Shows Record December Deficit
The government ran record deficits of $390 billion in the first quarter of FY2010, according to the CBO’s...
