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.
More Pandering to Seniors
Yesterday, the House voted 406-18 to prevent an 8 percent increase in Medicare premiums for 11 millions seniors, many of whom are well-off. At a time...
Elmendorf Explains Dismal Fiscal Picture to Economists
UPDATE: Read Elmendorf's take on his talk . Today, several of us at the CRFB staff attended a National Economists Club lunch with Congressional Budget...
GAO Report Says AIG Bailout Repayment Remains Unclear
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report (congrats to Andrew Samwick for pointing this out) on the status of government...
The G-20 Summit and Beyond
As the G-20 Summit gets underway in Pittsburgh, what should we hope to hear from the G-20 leaders? That they are prepared to continue supporting...
Fed's Monetary Policy Committee Sees Improvement; Policies Stay Unchanged
Following its two day meeting yesterday and today, the Fed’s monetary policy setting body (the Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC) released its...
Chairman's Mark of Finance Committee Bill, and Proposed Amendments
Today, the Senate Finance Committee is continuing to mark-up the Committee’s health care reform bill. In total, the Committee is considering 564...
Fiscal Roadmap: "Deficit Reduction: Lessons From Around the World"
The U.S. economy appears to be gradually recovering, and positive growth is expected now and for the rest of the year. Looking ahead, however, U.S...
A Gimmick We Like
We spend a lot of time warning about budget gimmicks. But OMB’s new contest for federal employees to submit ideas for how the government can save...
Understanding What Happened to My Social Security COLA
AARP Public Policy Institute recently held an event on the impact of a period without a cost-of-living adjustment on Social Security beneficiaries and...
Pressure to Extend Expiring Stimulus Provisions Likely
Recently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced his support for the extension of the First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit by signing on as a...
One More FDIC Bank Closing
On Friday evening, the FDIC reported that it has taken over an additional bank ( Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company) for a cost to the FDIC of around...
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Kicks Off Work This Week
This week, members of the 10-person, bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission met for the first time to begin efforts to investigate the causes...