Blog

Welcome to our blog – The Bottom Line, where you’ll find up-to-date commentary and analysis on the most important news in the fiscal world. Below is a list of our blog posts.

May 21, 2012

Taxes

Tax Policy Center Event Discusses Taxes on the Financial Sector

When discussing new types of revenue or tax structures for the federal government to consider the other month, we touched on financial sector taxes as...

May 18, 2012

Taxes

House GOP Floats 2-Stage Process for Tax Reform

Via the Washington Post, it seems that the House majority is looking at creating a fast track procedure for passing tax reform in 2013. This will...

May 18, 2012

Budget Process

Health Care

Fixing Medicare Double-Counting

Donald Marron, who recently wrote a blog post on how budget limits are treated in Congressional rules, wrote a piece today detailing how Medicare Part...

May 17, 2012

Economics

What the U.S. Could Learn from Germany

Steep budget cuts are linked to recession and higher unemployment in Europe, argue several commentators (see here for example). Are they right...

May 17, 2012

Economics

Budgets & Projections

How Big is the Fiscal Cliff?

UPDATE: This blog has been updated to include CBO's brief about the fiscal cliff. About a month ago, we reported our estimates of how much the fiscal...

May 16, 2012

Economics

Budgets & Projections

No Surprise: Fiscal Cliff Causing A Lot of Uncertainty

We have been warning for a few months now about the potential consequences of the fiscal cliff -- and adding to the debt by averting it all together...

May 16, 2012

Economics

Bill Clinton Joins the Announcement Effect Club

Former President Bill Clinton joined the Announcement Effect Club at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's Fiscal Summit yesterday in a Q&A session with...

May 15, 2012

Budgets & Projections

Erskine Bowles' Message Hits Home

On Sunday, Fiscal Commission co-chair and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles delivered a speech at American University's School of...

May 15, 2012

Economics

Watch the 2012 Fiscal Summit Live

The 2012 Fiscal Summit presented by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation is today. Watch live here now and follow on Twitter with #FiscalSummit. Speakers...

May 14, 2012

Budgets & Projections

Line Items: Game of Thrones Edition

Winter is Coming – HBO’s “Game of Thrones” has a legion of devoted fans. The show deftly combines mystical elements with real-world political intrigue...