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.
No New Taxes? Then Take the Spending Challenge
Obviously the fiscal situation facing the country is bad. Deficits are massive; the debt is headed towards unprecedented territory; and the weak...
In Defense of the Deficit Commission
Today, the AARP sent an email to its members encouraging them not to support the Conrad-Gregg commission. A coalition of conservative anti-tax groups...
On the President's Spending Cuts....
Yesterday -- citing CRFB's work -- The Stephen Dinan of Washington Times wrote that President Obama, in his first year, was more successful than...
Announcing the "Announcement Effect Club"
Since CRFB called for a Fiscal Recovery Plan in July, a growing number of prominent economists, organizations, and opinion leaders have joined us in...
Jobs and Policy
At the start of the new decade, one in every ten Americans is unemployed. By broader measures of unemployment (including discouraged workers who may...
Obama Proposes Bank Fee to Recoup Bailout Costs
President Obama has just proposed a fee on financial firms, stating his commitment “to recover every single dime the American people are owed.” The...
House Sustains Obama Veto of CR; Budgeteers Yawn
The House voted Wednesday to sustain President Obama's veto of a Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded. Huh? Confused? Why wasn't this...
Two Major Reports Target Debt Reduction
In the past two days, at least two new voices have joined a growing chorus of organizations warning that our federal debt is growing at an...
First Hearing for the FCIC
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which was established to examine the causes of the economic and financial crisis, kicked off the first day of...
Top Ten Tax Expenditures: JCT releases its annual report
Earlier this week the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the congressional group that provides cost estimates and tax expertise to Congress, issued...
Fed Earns Money, TARP Loses It
The Federal Reserve announced, this morning, that it will transfer $46.1 billion in FY2009 profits over to the Treasury, higher than the $31.7 billion...
Moving the Tax Expiration Goal Posts
The President may choose to submit a budget in which he extends the Bush tax cuts only temporarily—say for two years, rather than permanently as was...