This past Thursday and Friday, I had the privilege of visiting the University of Iowa in Iowa City to engage with students, faculty, and community members on the pressing issues surrounding our nation’s fiscal policy. Hosted in collaboration with the…
Introduction Most economists agree there are times when government borrowing is either necessary or unavoidable, such as wars and recessions. But there is less agreement on how the national debt affects the economy and whether it imposes a disproportionate burden…
Introduction In part one of this defense primer, readers learned that the defense budget is a significant portion of the federal budget (about 15% in 2019), approximately 96% of which is Department of Defense spending (the Pentagon’s…
Most Americans know that the defense budget constitutes a substantial portion of federal spending, but there remains plenty of confusion as to just how much. While a quick search can answer that for you (spoiler alert: $714 billion in…
Key Takeaways Several times each year, the Congressional Budget Office publishes a baseline – a policy-neutral snapshot of the federal budget meant to inform lawmakers about future trends, such as the sustained imbalance between revenues and spending. Often, the…
Two deadlines converge by coincidence this year. They are not related to one another and the precise consequences of failing to deal with them in a timely manner are different. Missing either of the deadlines, however, has the potential to…
Congress voted in February 2018 to again suspend the federal debt limit. On March 1, 2019, it went back into effect and was set at the level necessary to include all debt racked up prior to that date ($21.988 trillion). While…