The Debt

Why the Deficit Outlook Could Be Even Worse Than It Seems

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The Congressional Budget Office warned earlier this month that the U.S. will start running $1 trillion deficits in 2020, and that the national debt will be nearly as large as the economy in a decade...
Here's Why You Shouldn't Panic as 10-Year Treasury Yield Tops 3%

By Yuval Rosenberg

Yields on 10-year Treasuries hit the widely watched and psychologically significant 3 percent level Tuesday for the first time since January 2014, continuing a months-long climb that has been driven...
Deficit Owls Say You Shouldn’t Give a Hoot About $1 Trillion Budget Shortfall

By Yuval Rosenberg

As warnings rise about the Congressional Budget Office’s projection that the federal budget deficit is on pace to top $1 trillion in 2020, The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein on Friday highlighted a...
How Congress Cheats with Our Money — and How We Can Stop It

By Marc Goldwein and Zach Moller

The U.S. is on course to top its record debt levels set after World War II, and permanent trillion-dollar deficits — meaning, forever — are likely to return within two years . And unlike after World...
April Is Financial Literacy Month. Someone Tell Congress.

By Joseph J. Minarik and Caroline L. Ferguson

February is Black History Month, March is National Women’s Month, and April? Well, it’s Financial Literacy Month, of course! The U.S. government gave financial literacy its own month in 2003. April...

Why All the Warnings About Unsustainable National Debt Could Be Wrong

By Michael Rainey

International economists are warning about rising global debt levels and deficit hawks in Washington are increasingly worried about what they see as unsustainable debt levels in the U.S., but a new...
The US Has an Exceptional Debt Outlook – and Not in a Good Way

By Michael Rainey

The International Money Fund’s latest global fiscal survey warns that in five years, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio will be higher than Italy’s, a nation not generally known for its exemplary fiscal...
When the Budget Won’t Balance, Just Get Rid of the Budget Committee?

By Michael Rainey

It may sound like a joke — Erik Sherman of Forbes said it seemed like something “from The Onion or Andy Borowitz at the New Yorker, only with less humor and pith” — but Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), chair...
With Recent Laws, Congress Has Added $540 Billion to the 2019 Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Spending hikes and tax cuts passed since 2015 under the Trump and Obama administrations account for $540 billion of next year’s projected $981 billion budget deficit, or 55 percent, according to...
Extending the Individual Tax Cuts Would Reduce Economic Growth: Penn Wharton Budget Model

By Michael Rainey

Most of the individual tax cuts in the GOP tax overhaul that became law in December are scheduled to expire after 2025, but Republican lawmakers are expected to try to make them permanent well before...

What's Ahead for 2018 and Beyond: Big Deficits and Fiscal Stalemate

By John Harwood, CNBC

In 2010, as congressional Democrats moved to enact Obamacare, Sen. Orrin Hatch echoed fellow Republicans in denouncing "trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see." In fact, the record...
Some Serious Math Problems for the GOP Tax Plan

By Michael Rainey and Yuval Rosenberg

A day after saying they had a deal on a final tax bill, House and Senate Republicans leaders were still scrambling Thursday to resolve some math problems complicating their rush to unveil the...
Gaming the GOP Tax Plan: Why Deficits Could Rise Much Higher Than Expected

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Republican tax cut plan is projected to balloon the deficit by at least $1 trillion , but that forecast might be far too low, writes New York’s Jonathan Chait . Why? “Because the design is a...
Why the GOP’s Debt-Financed Tax Cuts Could Come Back to Haunt Them

By Yuval Rosenberg

Republicans keep saying that their tax cut plan will pay for itself, despite a profound lack of evidence to support that argument. Even the most optimistic study, from the conservative-leaning Tax...
Senate Tax Bill Hits a Late-Stage Snag Over Deficit Concerns

By Yuval Rosenberg

Senate Tax Bill Hits a Late-Stage Snag Over Deficit Concerns The Senate Republican tax plan looked increasingly like a sure thing Thursday. And then, suddenly, it didn’t. A new analysis released late...