Tag Archives: government spending

Benghazi, the Failure of All Politicians and Lessons Learned

Senator John McCain has called Obama’s administration handling of Benghazi a ‘cover-up.’ While all the evidence is not yet available a prima facie case can be made that he is correct. The Obama administration, especially the State Department, probably tried … Continue reading

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Study: Balanced Budget Amendment Equals Great Economic Damage

What would happen if a balanced budget amendment (BBA) was passed and implemented? The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities quotes estimates from  a Macroeconomic Advisers analysis: If the 2012 budget were balanced through spending cuts, those cuts would total … Continue reading

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Awarding Winning Nobel Economists Warn Against Austerity

In a letter addressed to President Obama, Speaker Boehner, Minority Leader Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, and Minority Leader McConnell a number of Nobel winning economists had a number of things to say but their last point summarizes a point I have posted about … Continue reading

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Goldman-Sachs Issues Austerity Warning

“Sequestration, spending caps, and reduced war spending will together reduce real federal consumption and gross investment by 11% over the next two years, ” according to Alec Phillips, an economist at Goldman Sachs. “That’s a very big drop in a … Continue reading

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Austerity Economics Failed Europe: Europe Back into a Recession

It’s official but not surprising — Europe has entered into a recession: The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (the European counterpart of the U.S. NBER) last week issued a declaration that Europe entered a … Continue reading

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Austerity vs Stimulus: Great Britain vs. the U.S.

A real world experiment has been running since the onset of the recession. The U.S. decided to utilize a Keynesian stimulus program while Great Britain adopted the Tories’ austerity program. Which country is doing better? According to research conducted by … Continue reading

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Every $100 Billion of Deficit Reduction Will Cost Close to a Million Jobs!

Christina Romer joins the chorus of economists warning against going over the fiscal cliff this coming January — sequestration and the end of the Bush tax cuts. Huge deficit reductions too fast will result in an economic calamity: “A crude … Continue reading

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Size of Government: It’s All in One’s Perspective and When You Assign Responsibility

The size of the U.S. government is a source of election debates. In this post I will demonstrate how each major party can use data to suit their purpose. First we will examine the size of the U.S. government in … Continue reading

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How Did Our Country Get to $14.3 Trillion in Debt?

How did our country get to $14.3 trillion in debt? Here are two pie charts depicting federal debt accumulation by Presidential administration. The first graph depicts the dollar amount contributed by each Presidential administration. The second graph shows the percent … Continue reading

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Update: Is “Austerity Economics” Working in Europe?

I have written extensively (see “Related posts” below) about the evidence indicating the adverse effectiveness of “austerity economics” during a period of economic malaise. Here’s an update from Calculated Risk on the ineffectiveness of “austerity economics” in Italy and Greece. … Continue reading

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