I want to pass this forum and debate along at Policymic to readers. There are a number of excellent people in the comments section as well. There’s a great debate happening now between libertarian Harvard Professor Jeff Miron and Center for American Progress tax specialist Michael Linden on the hot topic of whether we should […]

I had a post on the federal deficit talks and the speeches made to ‘resolve’ the political emergency, perhaps to turn into a fiscal emergency, and surely to further idealogy. But this picture was so much more accurate. (no attribution found)

PGL, in the process of an optimistic piece, points us to Martin Feldstein ringing in 2011. Apparently, the reason is this: The most substantial potential boost to spending comes from a temporary reduction of the payroll tax, lowering the rate paid by employees on income up to about $100,000 from 6.2 per cent to 4.2 […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt A Modest Tax Proposal The GOP is all breathless about deficits, but this is the same GOP of Dubya Bush that fought a war in Iraq (unnecessary) and Afghanistan (overextended) funded entirely by debt. So, the following proposal. A 3% surtax on taxable incomes over $75,000 until the cost of […]

by Mike Kimel Where Has the Spending Gone, Joe Dimaggio? Lately there’s been a gnashing of the teeth about the deficit and the debt and what to do about it. Democrats point out that when GW took office, there was no deficit, and that a big part of the problem is that federal tax revenues […]

Guest Post by RJS Crisis in public education School districts around the country have been hit with a triple whammy of cuts to their funding this year… First, the direct aid in the form of federal ARRA has run its course, so they’re no longer receiving that supplement. Second, the states have budgetary problems for […]

Talking Points Memo points us to a nine page chart specifying which programs are sustaining funding cuts in the Continuing Resolution reductions as published by the Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee. (h/t rjs) (h/t MG) The original documents from the House Committee on Appropriations are located here. These include the legislation text, legislation summary, […]

AP’s Andrew Taylor describes a part of the federal budget debate that needs clarification for the average voter and others regarding this current round of ‘negotiations’: Some $18 billion of the spending cuts involve cuts to so-called mandatory programs whose budgets run largely on autopilot. To the dismay of budget purists, these cuts often involve […]

OMB Watch reports here and here on the Transparency Through Technology: Evaluating Federal Open-Government Initiatives : Transparency Through Technology: Evaluating Federal Open-Government Initiatives and testimony here. OMB Watch recommends six changes Congress and the Obama administration should make to USAspending.gov, the government’s spending website which is based off of one of their websites, FedSpending.org. Making […]

by Mike Kimel Deficit numbers for CEA chair signatories on the deficit letter Cross-posted at Presimetrics Title updated I’m kind of late to this, but apparently ten ex-chairs of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors decided to share their opinion about the national debt with the rest of us. There’s been commentary here and there […]