Executive Summary Puerto Rico now has a real chance for economic recovery. Last January the Financial Oversight Board for Puerto Rico closed an almost five year-long bankruptcy case with 80% of the islands outstanding payments reduced. Set up in 2016, The Financial Oversight Board is a federally appointed group with limited powers over Puerto Rican finances … Continue reading
Category Archives: Debt
Bluffing in the House: Reforming the Budget Process
On June 15, the House Budget Committee gathered to discuss the need for fiscal goals to “drive discipline and accountability”, in the words of Chairman Tom Price. The hearing comes at a time of a skyrocketing Public Debt of $19 trillion, a sluggish economic recovery and another recession looming around the corner. The U.S. has sustained … Continue reading
Debt / Economy / Latin America
Bankruptcy is Just a Band-Aid, Puerto Rico Needs Meaningful Reform
The global economy has been experiencing its fair share of ups and downs. Many eyes, including my own, have been locked on Greece as the country struggles to stay afloat under the overwhelming weight of its government debt. Furthermore, Prime Minister Tsipras’s leftist economic policies have all but dismantled the Greek economy. Outlandish tax rates … Continue reading
The Greek Debt Crisis: Just One Symptom of a Much Larger Problem
Greece has been in the throes of economic crisis for years. Turmoil first erupted after Greece’s economy was badly bruised by the global impacts of the Great Recession, and the Greek people have been suffering ever since. In 2009, a poor economic climate combined with a debt level of over 119 percent of GDP caused … Continue reading
The Debt Ceiling: Good Politics, Not Policy
As of this past week, our federal government has managed to clear the hurdle of fully funding the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, this is only one of the many vitally important budget issues on the horizon, including Medicare payments to doctors, funding for the Highway Trust Fund and our crumbling infrastructure, and the prospect … Continue reading
Debt / Economy / Fiscal policy / Politics
A Federal Balanced Budget: Not a Cure-All, but Definitely Not a Bad Idea
To all the people who believe that a constitutional requirement forcing Congress to pass a balanced budget every year will make the federal debt (and yes, there is a difference between a debt and a deficit: deficit being how much money we have to borrow per year, debt being how much money we have borrowed … Continue reading
America’s College Promise: One of Aspiration or Attainment
As tuition costs in universities across the United States continue to swell, students look to community colleges that offer cheaper tuition options than four-year universities. Now, the tuition cost of community college may get even cheaper. While addressing Pellissippi State Community College outside of Knoxville, Tennessee on January 9, President Obama proposed to make higher … Continue reading
Aging / America / Debt / Economy / Labor Force / Social Security
Retirement Age and the Social Security Dilemma
Ever since the members of the U.S Business Roundtable presented their plan to gradually raise the retirement age to seventy last year, the political and economic realm has been on fire with both support and recrimination. This fervor has only intensified after a recently released report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which stated that, holding … Continue reading
America / Debt / Economy / Education / U.S. Domestic Policy
Uncontrolled Debt, Unprepared Students. Regulations on Career-Colleges Attempt to Control the Trend.
In May of 2014, President Obama proposed that the Administration take steps to address the large number of students who enroll in for-profit college career programs that graduate with little experience, skills that were less than spectacular and high amounts of debt. These programs are leaving students with little option but to default on their … Continue reading
Debt / Economy / Fiscal policy
Deficits and the Business Cycle: Why We Should Still Worry About the Deficit
Why we should Still Worry about the Deficit On October 15, the Department of The Treasury released the final budget results from Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. The results showed an overall deficit of $483 billion, $197 billion less than in 2013 ($680 billion), which amounts to a reduction of the deficit as a percentage of GDP … Continue reading
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