Review: Sympathy for the Devil
Cage match.
Since Congress designed and implemented the last budget process in 1974, only on four occasions have all of the appropriations bills for discretionary spending been passed on time.
The plan's supporters say it won't push costs onto taxpayers.
Balanced federal budgets aren’t even considered as a possibility.
New legislation would intervene in the credit card market to help businesses like Target and Walmart, who don't like the fees they have to pay to accept credit card payments.
The federal budget deficit has exploded under Biden's watch, and he can no longer pretend otherwise.
The administration’s SAVE plan for student loan forgiveness is estimated to cost $475 billion.
Plus: Teaching A.I. about the Fourth of July, and more...
The fight over the debt ceiling has foreshadowed how the policy debates of the presidential election cycle are likely to go.
At a minimum, the national debt should be smaller than the size of the economy. A committed president just might be able to deliver.
A new Congressional Budget Office report warns of "significant economic and financial consequences" caused by the federal government's reckless borrowing.
Unlike Democrats, Senate and House Republicans have released proposals that would actually tackle the root causes of increasing student loan debt.
Projections of huge savings are making the rounds. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A new working paper finds that borrowers whose loan payments were paused actually had more debt at the end of 2021 than those whose loans were never paused.
If the debt ceiling bill passes, the Education Department will be barred from extending the student loan repayment pause yet again.
Even taking all the money from every billionaire wouldn't cover our coming bankruptcy.
Plus: A listener question cross-examines prior Reason Roundtable discussions surrounding immigration, economic growth, and birthrates.
Plus: Artificial intelligence and jobs, how government caused a lifeguard shortage, and more...
The U.S. tax system is extremely progressive, even compared to European countries—whose governments rely on taxing the middle class.
Sometimes he calls for freedom, and sometimes he preaches something darker.
The debt ceiling isn’t the issue; excessive federal spending is the real problem.
The ideology champions the same tired policies that big government types predictably propose whenever they see something they don't like.
Plus: A listener question concerning the key to a libertarian future—should we reshape current systems or rely upon technological exits like bitcoin and encryption?
The longer we wait to address our debt, the more painful it will be.
Plus: Kansas voting restrictions struck down, the legacy of the "vast wasteland" speech, and more…
To address an "unpaid debt bubble," the proposed law would dictate contract terms and require regulators to intervene in commercial disputes.
It's time for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to strike a deal that will avoid a default and cut spending.
Plus: A listener question scrutinizing current attitudes toward executive power
In 2019, discretionary spending was $1.338 trillion—or some $320 billion less than what Republicans want that side of the budget to be.
The most important part of the Limit, Grow, Save Act is the limits.
The main driver behind the reduction is inflation—inflation that politicians created with their irresponsible spending.
How to—and how not to—help solve the college debt problem.
A responsible political class would significantly reform the organization. Instead, they will likely continue to give it more power.
New data from the program's trustees show that insolvency will hit a year sooner than previously expected, giving policy makers just a decade before automatic benefit cuts occur.
56 percent agreed that "people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off."
If Republicans refuse to gore their three sacred cows, a new CBO report shows that balancing the budget is literally impossible.
Congress' end-of-year rush to fund the federal government has become the norm.
The higher taxes on small businesses and entrepreneurs could slow growth. Less opportunity means more tribalism and division.
But it's exactly what they need to start talking about.
"If it was an emergency, why wait three years to provide the forgiveness? Why present it in a political framework, as fulfilling a campaign promise?" said one higher education expert.
Plus: the editors field a listener question on intellectual property.
People can never be made incorruptible. We can, however, design governmental systems filled with checks and balances that limit the temptations.
Plus: Age verification for social media, a bill to ban cannabis "gatherings," and more...
Legislators will increasingly argue over how to spend a diminishing discretionary budget while overall spending simultaneously explodes.
These days, he may run for president. His politics have changed.
Fiscal stimulus during the pandemic contributed to an increase in inflation of about 2.6 percentage points.
Plus: The editors consider the ongoing debt ceiling drama and answer a listener question about ending the war on drugs.
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