The New York Times has a useful infographic outlining proposals for how to trim the defense budget. The Pentagon has committed to cutting $450 billion in spending over the next 10 years—only a small slice of the tremendous increase in war and defense spending we have seen in the previous 10 years. The graph…
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In “CBO Releases Daunting Long-Term Outlook,” Tim Fernholz at the National Journal reports that: Increasing federal debt will be a growing burden on government action, crowding out lawmakers� ability to adopt tax and spending priorities in good times and reducing flexibility during recessions, all while making a fiscal crisis more likely and hindering long-term…
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In a new article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Grasping budget’s billions and trillions: Incomprehensibly huge numbers mask real burdens,” Independent Institute Research Fellow Emily Skarbek (Director of the Government Cost Calculator) discusses the meaning and absurdity of the $3.8 trillion federal budget and the meaningless reforms being proposed. Taxpayers might have strong feelings about…
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In a new article, “How Can Anyone Take This Seriously?”, Independent Institute Research Editor Anthony Gregory slams the absurd squabbling in Congress over 2% of the federal deficit while the U.S.’s gigantic spending and debt crisis plunges onward. The U.S. is running deficits somewhere between one and one and a half trillion dollars, and…
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The latest economic forecasts are now projecting that the federal budget deficit will reach a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2011. As the Wall Street Journal reports, this �grim outlook landed a day after President Barack Obama outlined plans to push for new spending that he said would help keep the U.S. globally…
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In response to growing public opposition to the gigantic spending by the federal government, President Barack Obama in 2009 called on his Cabinet to identify a combined $100 million dollars in budget cuts compared to the $3.5 trillion federal budget as a whole (not including the $787 “stimulus package” or the $83 billion in…
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We’ve been digging through the White House’s budget projections for Fiscal Year 2009, which was produced under President Bush’s tenure, and Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, which were both produced under President Obama’s direction, to compare how much of the U.S. taxpayers’ money each would have planned to spend in the years from 2010…
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October 1 is the beginning of the federal government’s 2011 fiscal year. Congress has not passed a budget, and it appears likely that one won’t be passed until January. The government that wants to take over and run your health care (and other aspects of your life) can’t even pass its own budget. One…
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