The Debt

Bill Clinton’s Surplus Miracle, 20 Years Later

By Sheila Weinberg

Standing behind a podium in the Rose Garden, President Bill Clinton delivered a bold prediction 20 years ago. “Well ahead of the most ambitious schedule, America has balanced the budget,” he declared...
Forget Tax Cuts: Trump’s Immigration Policy Is Drowning Out GOP Issues

By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Republicans had planned to focus on the tax cuts this week as we approach the six-month anniversary of the Trump administration's major legislative achievement, the passage of the tax bill in...
The Politics Behind Permanent Trillion-Dollar Deficits

By Yuval Rosenberg

Budget Guy Stan Collender writes that budget deficits under the Trump administration are projected to hit $1 trillion in 2020 — and keep rising to $1.5 trillion in fiscal 2028. “But what’s most...
Another Way Trump’s Trade War Could Hurt the US

By Yuval Rosenberg

Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at the Bleakley Advisory Group, adds another wrinkle to the dangers of an emerging trade war. In a Monday morning email, Boockvar notes that foreigners were...
3 Reasons More Tax Cuts Would Be a Terrible Idea, According to the Center for American Progress

By Yuval Rosenberg

Round One was bad. Round Two would only make things worse. That’s the argument Seth Hanlon and Galen Hendricks of the liberal Center for American Progress make in a new analysis of additional tax...

Team Trump Sees a Long-Term Boom Ahead. The IMF Disagrees.

By Yuval Rosenberg

The tax cuts and spending increases enacted by the Trump administration and Congress will increase the risks to the U.S. and global economy, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday in an annual...
Why Trump’s Spending Clawbacks Matter ... and Why They Don’t

By Yuval Rosenberg

In a party-line vote, the House on Thursday evening narrowly passed the White House’s proposal to claw back nearly $15 billion in previously approved federal funding that was never spent. The vote...
Do Deficit Hawks Have a Snowball’s Chance in Hell in Today’s Politics?

By Michael Rainey

When Starbucks founder and executive chairman Howard Schultz announced his retirement earlier this week, he set off a round of speculation about a possible presidential run in 2020. Schultz has never...
Rates on US Bonds Now Higher Than for Other Developed Countries

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Rising interest rates in the U.S. have pushed the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds higher than the yields for similar government bonds from seven major developed countries for the first times since...
3 Big Risks the US Faces as Debt Levels Soar

By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

In a new note to clients, Goldman Sachs economists say that U.S. fiscal outlook “is not good.” If you’re reading this you likely already knew that the picture isn’t pretty — but the new Goldman Sachs...

New US Debt Could Push Interest Rates Higher

By Yuval Rosenberg

As budget deficits rise this year and for the next several years thanks in part to the recently passed GOP tax cuts, the U.S. Treasury will have to ramp up its borrowing. A group of private banks...
Treasury Will Hit Debt Ceiling Sooner Than Expected

By Michael Rainey

Government funding isn’t the only important deadline that’s approaching rapidly. According to a report released by the Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury could run out of...
Why This Is a Bad Time to Turn a Blind Eye to the Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

In a Wall Street Journal column , Princeton economist and former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alan Blinder explains why Washington’s race to increase deficits through a combination of tax cuts and...
Tough Road Ahead for Trump's Infrastructure Plan

By Michael Rainey

In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Trump asked Congress to "produce a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately...
What Was Notably Absent from Trump’s State of the Union Address

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night lasted an hour and 20 minutes — the third-longest ever, just nine minutes shy of the record . The president touched on a long list of...