Bruce Bartlett / 18-11-2011
Short answer: It’s because he’s black and a Republican. Let me explain.
Bruce Bartlett / 07-06-2011
As we approach a debt crisis in early August due to Republicans’ intransigence on raising the Treasury’s borrowing limit – on May 31 every House Republican voted against an increase – they are digging in their heels on the idea that trillions of dollars of spending cuts must accompany any rise in the debt limit. [...]
Bruce Bartlett / 06-05-2011
As a debate on the tax increase returns to the public realm, it is important to learn from history. President Ronald Reagan's terms are being highligted as an example of the low tax period. Reagan's White House insider examines this claim.
Bruce Bartlett / 22-04-2011
On April 13, President Obama attempted to change the budget debate in Washington, which has been conducted entirely on Republican terms for the last two years. In particular, he is trying to put taxes back on the table as part of the solution to the nation’s debt and deficit problem.
Unfortunately, debate on policy issues these days [...]
Dr Bruce Bartlett / 07-09-2010
As every economist knows, Stein’s Law says that trends which can’t continue don’t. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell us anything about when or how they come to an end. Since our national debt is assumed by virtually all economists except my friend Jamie Galbraith to be unsustainable, and since it seems increasingly [...]
Dr Bruce Bartlett / 09-08-2010
With the departure of Christie Romer as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, various commentators are pointing their fingers at National Economic Council director Larry Summers for pushing her out. I think this is not correct. It’s rare for someone to stay in Romer’s position much longer than she has [...]
Dr Bruce Bartlett / 02-08-2010
It was during the time early in the Carter administration, which proposed a crude oil equalization tax on oil producers when I first time ever dug into the details of a revenue forecast. I was curious about the revenue forecast for this legislation and made some calls. The Joint Committee on Taxation told me that [...]
Dr Bruce Bartlett / 19-07-2010
On July 13, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, asserted that there was no net revenue loss from any of the Bush tax cuts, in defense of an earlier comment by Senator John Kyl, R-Arizona, that all spending increases must be offset so as not to increase the deficit but tax cuts must never be [...]
Dr Bruce Bartlett / 13-07-2010
The Wall Street Journal reported somewhat breathlessly on June 10 that nonfinancial businesses in the U.S. are sitting on $1.84 trillion in liquid assets, or 12.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The implication is that this money could immediately be mobilized to invest and create jobs. This isn’t quite so, but excessive [...]
Dr Bruce Bartlett / 25-05-2010
It will happen, I believe, when the credit rating agencies begin to seriously threaten a downgrade of Treasury debt. They have told us when that will happen: when interest on the debt reaches 20% of revenues (not spending). Under current CBO projections, we will hit that level in 2019/2020. But long before then, the credit [...]
