If you can't even get close to balancing the budget when unemployment is low, tax revenues are near record highs, and the economy is booming, when can you do it?
The government needs to cut back on spending—and on the promises to special interests that fuel the spending.
The total appropriations package would cut $200 billion over 10 years, as the national debt expands by $20 trillion.
"I'm concerned about a Trump-Biden rematch," argues Riedl. "You have two presidents with two of the worst fiscal records of the past 100 years."
Next week, Congress will have to choose between a rushed omnibus bill or a long-term continuing resolution that comes with a possible 1 percent spending cut.
Biden's economic policies gave us three years of excessive, wasteful, and poorly targeted federal spending.
Three things to know about the new Congressional Budget Office report on the growing federal deficit.
Biden's economic policies gave us three years of excessive, wasteful, and poorly targeted federal spending.
The reality raises questions about the kind of future we want to leave for the next generation.
Reagan's former budget director says Donald Trump killed prosperity—and the GOP's core beliefs in capitalism and freedom.
They will either reduce the ability to spend money or to cut taxes.
Rosy fiscal expectations based on eternally low interest rates have proven dangerously wrong.
Rosy fiscal expectations based on eternally low interest rates have proven dangerously wrong.
The federal government is borrowing money at a mind-spinning rate, and you can't blame it on the COVID-19 pandemic anymore.
Plus: State officials attempt to ban Donald Trump from 2024 election ballots.
Lawmakers can take small steps that are uncontroversial and bipartisan to jumpstart the fiscal stability process.
Congressman Thomas Massie discusses his "no" votes on foreign aid, COVID-19 relief, and labeling anti-Zionism antisemitism on episode two of Just Asking Questions.
Plus: Elon Musk's mom tells off the FCC, A24 tackles civil war, Nate Silver talks F.A. Hayek, and more...
Every dollar wasted on political pork, fraud, and poorly considered infrastructure makes the country’s fiscal situation even worse.
We're often told European countries are better off thanks to big-government policies. So why is the U.S. beating France in many important ways?
A fiscal commission might be a good idea, but it's also the ultimate expression of Congress' irresponsibility.
Servicing debt grows more expensive as the deadline to curb the spending spree gets closer.
The Copenhagen Consensus has long championed a cost-benefit approach for addressing the world's most critical environmental problems.
Republican Presidential Nomination
Plus: Hospital raid, Eric Adams' fondness for Erdogan, open carry at the makeup counter, and more...
Moody's calculates that interest payments on the national debt will consume over a quarter of federal tax revenue by 2033, up from just 9 percent last year.
In the last 50 years, when the budget process has been in place, Congress has managed only four times to pass a budget on time.
"The United States has about 20 years for corrective action after which no amount of future tax increases or spending cuts could avoid the government defaulting on its debt."
Years ago, when interest rates were low, calls for the federal government to exercise fiscal restraint were dismissed. That was unwise.
Entitlement reform has long been considered a third rail in American politics, but that perspective might be changing.
A debt commission won't solve any of the federal government's fiscal problems, but it's the first step towards taking them seriously.
Higher rates lead to more debt, and more debt begets higher rates, and on and on. Get the picture?
Especially because the once-dismissed possibility of rising rates is now a reality.
The Federal Reserve's higher interest rates were supposed to trigger changes to fiscal policy. So far, that hasn't happened.
Those sounding the loudest alarms about possible shutdowns are largely silent when Congress ignores its own budgetary rules. All that seems to matter is that government is metaphorically funded.
Rising bond yields mean the national debt is going to be a lot more expensive in the next few years, and we just keep adding to it.
Plus: A listener asks whether younger generations are capable of passing reforms to entitlement spending.
Fiscal irresponsibility might eventually shut down the government, but at the moment it’s all for show.
The big spending has fueled higher inflation, resulted in larger-than-projected deficits, and contributed to a record level of debt.
It's not the first time that has happened, but there are key differences about what happened this year.
Since Congress won't cut spending, an independent commission may be the only way to rein in the debt.
Plus: Separating child poverty facts from fiction, EU will ban payments for sperm and blood, and more...
America’s biggest fiscal challenge lies in the unchecked growth of federal health care and old-age entitlement programs.
Short-term solutions and governing from crisis to crisis isn't working.
Legislators abuse the emergency label to push through spending that would otherwise violate budget constraints.
Federal officials ignore repeated warnings, and we all pay the price.
The lack of oversight and the general absence of a long-term vision is creating inefficiency, waste, and red ink as far as the eye can see.
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 national debt has ballooned from $14 trillion to $32 trillion in a little over a decade.
Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.
This modal will close in 10
