Tax hikes were the focal point of the contentious, failed supercommittee negotiations designed to reduce the national debt by at least $1.2 trillion. Democrats wanted massive tax hikes. Republicans flirted with a tax reform deal lowering rates and closing loopholes. But the fact that tax hikes were at the center of the debate indicates that […]
China’s state media Tuesday blasted the United States over its “ticking debt bomb” and urged American lawmakers to be more responsible after they failed to agree on deficit-cutting measures. China is the world’s largest foreign holder of US Treasuries with a portfolio of around $1.15 trillion, prompting Beijing’s keen interest in the state of the US […]
The Heritage Foundation has consistently urged, and continues to urge, that the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, known as the Supercommittee, “go big” with its recommendations, to “drive federal spending down — including by fixing ever-expanding entitlement programs — toward a balanced budget, while preserving our capability to protect America, and without raising […]
A number of military and veterans groups are expressing concern over a letter that Senator John McCain (R–AZ) has sent to members of the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction suggesting they adopt earlier proposals from a March report of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for scaling back military health care benefits and increasing […]
The left continues to resist any suggestion of spending cuts right now. In their view, a depressed economy is no time to slash spending; that would only further weaken demand. The successful austerity policies adopted in response to the downturn of 1920, however, offer a clear rebuttal to this notion. And this is not an […]
The Census Bureau’s new poverty measure is another tool in President Obama’s endless quest to “spread the wealth.” Although the media portray it as a more accurate measurement of poverty, in reality it deliberately severs all connection between “poverty” and actual deprivation. The new measure places income thresholds for poverty on a built-in escalator that […]
There are many ways to balance a budget. Most of us, for example, spend 30 percent or more of our income on housing. Skipping mortgage payments is a sure-fire way to make ends meet – until they take your house away. Health insurance can be a real waste, too, if you’re healthy. Dropping it may […]
As Washington ties itself up in knots over what the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, better known as the Supercommittee, will recommend to Congress, thirty-three Senators are standing tall against continued overspending and overborrowing. In a letter of November 3, 2011, to the Members of the Supercommittee, Senators Jim DeMint, John Cornyn, Kelly Ayotte […]
The purpose of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution (BBA) is to limit the size and scope of the federal government. Some politicians seem to have forgotten that goal. According to USA Today there are 18 pending proposed amendments to the Constitution that purport to be balanced budget constitutional mandates. The House will be […]
Washington politicians talk a good game when it comes to job creation. But when it comes to actually doing something, they’ve been unable to provide long-term stability on tax policy and reassure business leaders they’re serious about deficit reduction. The result is a cloudy economic climate that has left businesses sitting on cash rather than […]
