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.
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Finance Committee to Continue Work on Health Bill Next Week
This has been a big week in the Senate Finance Committee regarding work on the health care reform bill. The Committee endued many all-day sessions...
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People Pay Taxes
The simple truism that tax professors try to teach, and politicians try to ignore, is that people pay taxes. All taxes are passed onto people in one...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...