This year, the U.S. public debt is projected to reach 62 percent of the economy—up from 40 percent in 2008 and nearly double the historical average, according to recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates. The financial crisis and recession drove much of this debt swing, yet larger problems loom in… Read more

For most individuals, maxing out one’s credit card is usually a sign of a spending problem—but not if you’re Congress. For the first time in history, the national debt has hit $12 trillion, and it will soon exceed the $12.1 trillion maximum amount of debt allowed by law. Yet… Read more

Some have argued that baby boomers' retirement poses a threat to working Americans' savings. The value of workers' saved assets, they say, could drop once retiring boomers stop buying new assets or sell off current assets in order to have more cash on hand. Such swings in supply or demand would have to be… Read more

For years, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Government Accountability Office, Social Security and Medicare Trustees, and think tanks from across the political spectrum have been warning Congress that the budget is on an unsustainable course, and for years Congress has ignored them. CBO recently issued a new warning in their updated "Long-Term… Read more

The fact that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are on an unsustainable course is one of Washington's best un-kept secrets, and it was reconfirmed by the latest annual reports from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees. Both programs have promised benefits to future retirees without the financial means to pay for them. The level of… Read more

The first order of business for the President-elect and the new Congress is to get the American economy back on track. To that end, Democratic and Republican leaders are busily crafting an economic stimulus bill that will likely spend anywhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion. But this unprecedented action--which would be equivalent… Read more

Regardless of whose numbers you use, Social Security needs to be fixed. This makes Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) promise to deal with the program's coming deficits early in his administration, as well as Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) understanding of the program's fiscal situation, welcome news. While updated Congressional Budget Office (CBO)[1]… Read more

In the final hours of 2007, Congress rushed to pass a budget bill that has been pending for three months. It rolled 11 appropriations bills plus supplemental war funds into one bill, creating a massive vehicle loaded with pork, gimmicks, excessive spending, and bad policy. Congress barely took the time to contemplate the consequences of… Read more

Nearly three months into the new fiscal year, only one of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008 has been signed into law. As the holidays approach, the Democratic Congress has given up on the responsible approach of passing each spending bill individually; instead, it will cluster the 11 remaining bills into a single… Read more

Chart: See what the national debt means to you In a flurry of business to close out the fiscal year, Congress raised the debt limit by $850 billion to $9.815 trillion. Without this move, the federal government's credit card would have maxed out on October 1 with an outstanding balance of $9 trillion.… Read more