Re-posted with the permission of the author Mark Thoma at Maximum Utility. The Budget Deficit Debate: Avoiding the Real Problem I’ve been asked several times how I feel about the…

by Linda Beale Illinois’ deficit reduction scheme crossposted with Ataxingmatter States have generally suffered during this economic crisis much the way most people have–there’s been less money coming in as…

…of federal spending. So if the issue isn’t solvency of Social Security itself maybe it is the projected damage to the overall deficit. Well no, under the rules that govern…

…deficit this year will keep on growing, but he doesn’t really say so. The deficit might keep growing or it might not. The recession could end, and then cash flow…

…the dead trees version. Today we get Record-High U.S. Deficit May Dash Obama Goals Budget gap of $1.4T, while an improvement over worst projections, means less to spend on White…

rdan Bloomberg reports on Timothy Geithner committed to cutting the budget deficit as concern about deteriorating U.S. creditworthiness deepened, and ascribed a sell-off in Treasuries to prospects for an economic…

By Spencer The real trade deficit has been contracting so far this year and accounted for a major portion of growth this year. Just another example of how in the…

…double digit deficit if had there never been a tax cut in 2001. 2004.GW’s SOTU, Jan 20, 2004: By doing so, we can cut the deficit in half over the…

…reporters do when they compare budget deficits through time, without comparing them to the size of the economy. The proper measure is to describe the deficit relative to GDP. This…

…picture is ugly. The general fund deficit (i.e. the deficit excluding the SS trust fund) will be close to 4% of GDP during 2010-2015, and widen to 4.6% of GDP…