Category: Government Spending
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Spain's Infrastructure Spending: A Flight to Nowhere / Politics / Government Spending
By: Peter_Schiff
Andrew Schiff writes: Recently there's been much talk about how infrastructure spending can be a viable solution to our country's current economic woes. President Obama's proposed $447 billion dollar jobs bill contains, among other things, investment in infrastructure projects like road construction. Many progressive economists have called for much more, with some even saying that the utility of such programs is secondary to the short term economic stimulation that would result from hiring unemployed workers. In other words, it doesn't matter what is built, as long as the government creates jobs. But even if the projects are widely regarded as needed, will the benefits justify the costs? Oftentimes the answer is no, as the actions of the Spanish government over the last two decades suggest.
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Monday, October 31, 2011
How to Lick the Government Budget Deficits / Politics / Government Spending
By: BATR
Government deficits are a way of life in the post republic America. The spending addiction is a plague that swept away the land of the free and the home of the brave. The cultural curse of entitlement ‘rights’ has created a system of mob rule on the bottom of the ladder and champagne wishes and caviar dreams by plutocrat aristocrats. The controllers of the corporatist economy are just as adamant about their ‘right’ to dominate as the unwashed demonstrator defends their latest chanting theme for wealth re-distribution.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Zombies Born of Government Spending / Politics / Government Spending
By: Bill_Bonner
Zombie, zombie in the night
Making cities burn so bright
What immortal hand could frame
Thy fearful symmetry?
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
U.S. Budget Battles Ahead / Politics / Government Spending
By: Axel_Merk
My most recent Merk commentary, published July 25, was motivated by the possibility of an impasse on the federal debt ceiling. Now that President Obama has signed a bill raising the ceiling, I am motivated to write once again. Standard and Poor’s has registered its concern by lowering its long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States from AAA to AA+.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Reality Finally Hits The Morbidly Obese US Government / Politics / Government Spending
By: Jeff_Berwick
You know when someone is really fat but no one in their family has said anything and they've lived for years without even realizing it? And this state of non-reality led to eating more and more McDonald's and coca-cola and chips... which just led to the person being fatter and fatter?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Washington Had a Spending Problem / Economics / Government Spending
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
But does it have one now and through 2017? In an historical context, no. Consider Chart 1, which shows the rate of growth in the 12-month cumulative amount of total federal outlays from year-ago month. In the 12 months ended June 2011, total federal outlays are up 3.28% from 12 months ended June 2010 -well below the 6.64% median growth in this 12-month cumulative total from December 1955 through June 2011. So, Washington hardly has a spending problem now vs. history.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Does It Make Economic Sense to Strive for a Balanced Federal Budget? / Economics / Government Spending
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
When business make capital expenditures in order to enhance future profitability, do they typically fund all of these capital expenditures out of current income? No.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Social Security's Impact on the Federal Budget Deficit / Economics / Government Spending
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
For a number of years, net contributions to Social Security exceeded benefit payments. These surpluses were transferred to the Treasury's general fund in exchange for an IOU from the Treasury to be called at a time when the net contributions to Social Security became less than the benefit payments. That time arrived in 2009 when net contributions were $8.2 billion less than benefit payments.
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Saturday, July 16, 2011
Growth in Net Federal Outlays / Economics / Government Spending
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
The 12-month cumulative total of net federal outlays in June 2011 was up 3.28% from the 12-month cumulative total in June 2010. From December 1955 through June 2011, the median change in the 12-month cumulative total of net federal outlays from year-ago month has been 6.64%.
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Friday, June 17, 2011
Social Security and Medicare Cuts, Hard to Take a Bone from a Dog / Politics / Government Spending
By: John_Browne
Most people, provided they have a minimum of experience, know that taking a bone from a dog is a risky proposition. In terms of political power, few dogs are bigger than the American voting public. Taking away, or even threatening to take away, the major entitlements to which they have become accustomed could expose politicians to a mauling at election time. As the American leadership begins to grapple with very large issues of entitlement reform in "sacred" programs such as Medicare and Social Security, many may recoil from the task once the fangs begin flashing.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Increasing the Deficits Will Fire-up The Economy and Add Jobs / Politics / Government Spending
By: Mike_Whitney
How do you light a fire under Congress? How do you get these guys to do what they're paid to do?Look, we're 5 years into this slump, millions of people have lost their homes and jobs, 44 million people are on food stamps, the economy is in the tank, and congress won't lift a finger to help. What's that all about? You'd think that the revision in GDP and the uptick in unemployment claims would set off alarms on Capital Hill. But it hasn't. They just shrug it off and move on. What do they care? They get their fat paycheck one way or another, so what difference does it make to them? Besides, if they play their cards right, they'll nab a 6-figure lobbying job as soon as they retire and spend the rest of their lives working on their chip-shot and swilling single-malt at the club with their moneybags friends. Doesn't that piss you off?
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Thursday, April 28, 2011
Balancing the U.S. Budget, Radical Plan to Cut Military Spending / Politics / Government Spending
By: Mike_Shedlock
My long held belief is the US cannot afford to be the world's policeman. Moreover, I question whether it is wise to pursue such a policy even if we could pay for it. Regardless, it is beyond absurd to leave cuts in defense spending off the table when the budget deficit is $1.5 trillion.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sociapitalism: How the Government Became the Next Bubble / Politics / Government Spending
By: Jason_Kaspar
In the last thirteen years, a new financial order replaced capitalism in America. With cat-like tread, this transformation has caught most Americans unaware, let alone some of country’s best financial minds (many of them fascist anyway).
This new order constitutes the socializing of risk, a concept I have termed: Sociapitalism.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Playing the Lyre of U.S. Budget Madness as the Empire Burns / Politics / Government Spending
By: BATR
SARTRE writes: By Washington DC standards the just concluded budget agreement for funding the federal government through September, is a big win for Republicans. Emily Miller in Human Events describes, "The final agreement will be for $38.5 billion in cuts from current spending over the remaining six months of the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. The spending cuts, although historic in size, account for only 2.5% of this year's projected budget deficit of $1.6 trillion." Here lies the obscenity of the central government; namely, that a mere drop in the bucket reduction in a historic deficit is lauded as the great achievement of compromised negotiations.
Monday, April 11, 2011
The U.S. Budget Battle / Politics / Government Spending
By: LewRockwell
Watching the public debate on the budget, we are reminded of two boys on the floor playing with toys. One has a bear and the other has a dinosaur. They are forever threatening the other kid with taking the toy away. One warns he will take away the dinosaur (military spending) and the other says he will grab the bear (domestic spending). They pull and tug and eventually settle the dispute so long as each gets to keep his favorite.
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Friday, April 08, 2011
How to Eliminate Social Security and Medicare / Politics / Government Spending
By: George_Reisman
Expenditures under the Social Security and Medicare programs account for approximately one-third of total federal government spending.[1] It is obvious that any major reduction in government spending requires major reductions in spending for these programs. Unfortunately, Social Security and Medicare are generally regarded as sacred and thus virtually untouchable, with the result that few if any proposals have been made that would greatly reduce the spending they entail.[2]
Thursday, April 07, 2011
U.S. Federal Budget, a Rerun of 1994-95 Episode or More? / Economics / Government Spending
By: Asha_Bangalore
The continuing resolution, a temporary arrangement that is currently financing the operations of the federal government, expires on April 8, 2011. A federal government shutdown follows if Congress fails to authorize appropriations prior to this date. It is widely expected that a breakthrough in budget talks will take place prior to the deadline. However, there is uncertainty about whether a compromise will be reached at the appropriate time. Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Why Are People So Forgiving of Government Failure? / Politics / Government Spending
By: Christopher_Westley
Once upon a time, I developed a theory that we have much lower expectations for public-sector performance than we do for private-sector performance.[1] We saw this in accounting standards that — when applied to Enron — resulted in market forces shutting that firm down, while the Department of Defense loses billions of dollars annually. The difference in terms of waste between the two sectors is exponential, but while Enron is held accountable for its ethics, the government gets a pass.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Government Spending Is Bad Economics / Economics / Government Spending
By: J_M_Finegold_Catalan
The debate about whether or not government spending is a useful countercyclical tool has been revived by the continuing economic crisis. Today, the discussion has been politicized and deals almost exclusively with the size of government debt, focusing on the tax burden this debt represents for future generations and whether or not further debt will help stimulate the economy. Politically, the result has been a middle-of-the-road fiscal policy that has left no economist satisfied. Academically, the debate is generally split between free-market and Keynesian schools of thought, with each side arguing for a policy very different from those already implemented.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Ron Paul, Congress Must Reject the Welfare/Warfare State / Politics / Government Spending
By: Dr_Ron_Paul
During the past few weeks, Congress has been locked in a battle to pass a continuing resolution to fund government operations through September. Both supporters and opponents of the bill, HR 1, claim it is a serious attempt to reduce federal spending. However, an examination of the details of the bill call that claim into question.
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