#National Debt

The federal government hit its debt ceiling Monday, forcing the administration to turn to what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner calls “extraordinary measures” to pay the government’s bills and avoid default.Although Geithner has estimated the government can get by without a…

Anyone wondering why Social Security and Medicare should be “on the table” in budget negotiations need look no further than the 2011 Trustees’ Report issued on May 13.As is usually the case, media accounts of the trustees’ report tended to…

Last week Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mt.) said "A debt reduction trigger could be an important part of passing legislation to reduce our debt and move our economy in a positive direction toward growth and job creation." He…

Because sweeping government reforms will be politically difficult, the active involvement of the American public is essential. We need a national dialogue about the country’s huge fiscal challenges, the possible options, and the trade-offs among those options.In a guest column…

Making A Difference My fellow student T.J Leach and I, Alex Hall, are students of George Nye’s Business and Economics class at Lake Region High School in Naples, Maine. We both grew up in the area, which is about one…

The administration has notified members of Congress that because they apparently will not raise the federal debt limit by May 16 – when the limit is expected to be reached -- the Treasury Department will begin implementing “extraordinary measures” to…

Elected officials in both parties have made what I call “magical, mystery tax pledges” that are at odds with bipartisan approaches to serious deficit reduction:Republicans: Don’t raise revenue above the 40-year historical average of around 18-19 percent of GDP.Democrats, including…

Federal budget experts and ordinary citizens alike are asking for greater scrutiny of defense spending as part of a larger effort to reform the federal budget.“The rationale for including defense in a deficit reduction plan has invoked the concept of…