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.
Does the U.S. Spend $80 Billion a Year on Incarceration?
At the third Democratic debate, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said "We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans," using the...
JCT Estimates Over $1.2 Trillion in Tax Breaks in 2015
The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) recently released its latest estimate of tax expenditures covering the years 2015-2019. Based on the summed cost...
Policymakers Dig Hole $1.2 Trillion Deeper in 2015
With debt already around its highest level as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) other than around World War II and estimated to grow with no end...
CBO Releases Detailed Social Security Projections
As it often does in December, CBO has released its detailed long-term projections for Social Security that build off the ones released with their long...
Expectations Vs Reality For the FY 2016 Budget
With the first session of the the 114th Congress rapidly drawing to a close and the big budget issues being settled, we will take a look at how the...
Flake Releases “Wastebook: The Farce Awakens”
Carrying on the tradition of retired Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) this week released the 2015 edition of the Wastebook: The...
The Fiscal Irresponsibility of the Tax Deal in 6 Charts
It's no surprise that a deficit-financed tax cut deal costing $830 billion after interest would be bad for the budget. We've been describing the...
Omnibus Bill Falls Back on the Usual Budget Gimmicks
The negotiations that concluded this week produced two major pieces of legislation. The most consequential for the budget is the $680 billion package...
How a Fed Rate Increase Could Affect the Budget
Today, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's interest rate setting and deliberative body that meets eight times a year, could announce that...
Negotiated Tax Deal Would Cost $680 Billion
Lawmakers have announced a negotiated package of business and individual tax breaks costing about $680 billion over ten years. After interest, we...
Hoyer Slams Tax Extenders Deal
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) took to the House floor on Tuesday to assert his opposition to a potential tax extenders deal, citing a recent...
Tax Extenders Deal Might End Up Adding $4 Trillion to the Debt
The $700 billion price tag on the rumored deal to permanently extend expired tax breaks might actually be underselling just how expensive the package...