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Of all the post-election spin and hyperventilation about the ramifications of a new Republican majority in the House, today’s Washington Post report on the potential economic hit to the nation’s capital has to be among the most amusing. The likelihood of reductions in federal spending mean an end to the boom times in Washington DC, thanks to the heartless conservatives about to end the spending binge: The Washington region rose above all other metropolitan areas in 2010 when it came to economic progress. Bolstered by federal hiring and a boost in procurement, the region recorded the nation’s highest net number...

Stop the presses: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has discovered fiscal discipline. On Thursday, she said she opposed the extension of the Bush tax cuts for higher income brackets, because she “can see no justification for going into debt to a foreign country to underwrite and subsidize tax cuts for the wealthiest people in America.” Pelosi is right in at least this much: Our expected $1.3 trillion budget deficit and $13.4 trillion national debt pose a fundamental threat to the US economy and our way of life. But she is wrong in her belief that the deficit is due to low...

Man, I miss the fiscal discipline of the Bush era!Gulp. I never expected to write those words. The Bush-era Republicans were out-of-control big spenders, fiending for appropriations, handing out largesse, creating giant new health-care entitlements here, building nations there, all with a devil-may-care attitude about where the money would come from. They were all carrot and no stick, cutting taxes but not doing a thing about spending.And then: A mid-year budget review by the Obama administration forecasts the deficit will be $1.47 trillion this year and $1.42 trillion next year as the U.S. struggles to recover from the recession. This...

The military flyover Manhattan yesterday costs $328,835.00

In the months leading up to the 2006 midterm elections, as pundits and bloggers looked forward to the '08 presidential election, there was almost a universal sense of conventional wisdom that John McCain was the plainly recognized frontrunner, whereas Rudy Giuliani's stature as a contender would immediately plummet "once those conservatives found out about those liberal social views of Rudy's." Then, during the summer of 2006, the mainstream media and beltway thinkers had their proof. A serious political action organization was formed by a group of hardcore social conservatives, dedicated to tearing down any chance of Rudy's at grabbing the...

Sanford run for White House likely By LEE BANDY Staff Writer If there were any doubts that Gov. Mark Sanford will run for president, he certainly erased them with his State of the State address before a joint session of the General Assembly. The Capital City was abuzz. Veteran political observers said it sounded more like a State of The Union address. “Did you hear that speech? “ asked state Rep. Jim McGee, R-Florence. “Looks like to me he’s running.” House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Charleston, who worked for Sanford when he was a congressman, is more certain. “He’s definitely...

...During the debate, Sen. Kerry... said that he would adopt a "pay-as-you-go" approach to ensuring financial solvency to Social Security. President Bush's response, though apt, needs amplification. ...[P]ay-as-you-go is effective when... we are concerned with surging discretionary spending.... defense, roads and highways, judicial services, and homeland security.... Under pay-as-you-go rules discretionary spending can be increased only if Congress is willing to finance it 100% out of other spending cuts and tax increases. The political undesirability of both financing methods serves to check both higher deficits and growth in the size of the government. On the other hand, the pay-as-you-go approach...

site map | help | contact us       The Heritage Foundation Research Budget bg1599: The Disappearing Budget Surplus Highlights the Importance of Economic   Policy Archive:view by date Policy Archive:view by issue Features Events Heritage Experts Support Heritage Contact Us Return Home   The Disappearing Budget Surplus Highlights the Importance of Economic Growthby Brian M. Riedl Backgrounder #1599 October 2, 2002 |  | Opponents of tax cuts are using the disappearing budget surplus to justify their calls to repeal last year's tax cuts, but the government's own data do not support their claims. According to the most recent...