These days it is impossible to go anywhere without hearing about the current budget crisis and the need to cut spending. An often-overlooked solution to cut spending is to simply stop producing so much money, namely, small value coins. In February of last year it cost 2.4¢ to produce a single penny; it costs twice … Continue reading
Remember that debt limit fiasco last summer? Its repercussions still haunt us today. In order to motivate congress to come up with a cohesive debt reduction plan, the law passed to increase the debt limit stipulated that if the “super committee” failed to pass a plan by November 2011, across the board cuts (referred to … Continue reading
By Will Portman The U.S. needs deficit reduction, but there’s such thing as too much of a good thing — or, in the case of the end-of-year “fiscal cliff” the country is approaching, implementing too much of a good thing much too quickly. In the absence of congressional action, a slew of tax increases and spending … Continue reading
By Will Portman The Occupy movement has brought income inequality to the forefront of the national political discussion over the past year, even if both the movement and the issue have faded in recent months. Occupy protestors are concerned about the growing wealth gap in the U.S., pointing to studies like the recent Congressional Budget Office … Continue reading
By Will Portman Due to vicious circle effects, it becomes more and more expensive to pay off the national debt the more and more debt we accumulate, beyond the obvious fact that it’s a greater burden to pay back a greater sum of money. With each new dollar of deficit spending, we’re not merely digging … Continue reading
By Will Portman Winston Churchill once said, “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing… after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) cited the late British Prime Minister’s famous quote this week as he unveiled The Path to Prosperity, his budget for fiscal year 2013, arguing … Continue reading
By Will Portman On Monday, I went to a talk at the Brookings Institution entitled “America’s Dysfunctional Politics: Is the Constitution to Blame?” Professor Sanford Levinson of the University of Texas School of Law discussed his new book, Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Government, which argues that the 225-year-old U.S. Constitution is … Continue reading
By Will Portman According to a recent Gallup poll, 76% of Americans think that most members of Congress don’t deserve to be re-elected. The same poll, however, showed that a majority of Americans, 53%, think that their representative does deserve to be re-elected. The mentality seems to be something along the lines of, “Throw the bums out! Just not … Continue reading
By Will Portman Yesterday I attended a panel entitled “A Millionaire’s Tax and the Economy” at the Center for American Progress. One of the panelists, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), discussed his bill, the Paying a Fair Share Act, which would mandate that individuals earning above $2 million a year pay at least 30 percent federal … Continue reading
Today’s hearings in the Senate and House Budget Committees highlight the ocean of varying perspectives on the President’s budget and the appropriate approach to take on essential reforms and deficit reduction. Though committee members were certainly guilty of playing the blame game, on both sides of the aisle, many showed a genuine concern for our … Continue reading
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