deficits

Since when have deficits mattered?

Recently Republicans have been focusing on the national debt, and deficits. Now, history has shown us that this is a complete Flip-Flop for republicans who, for the past 30 years, have set records...

Do republicans have selective amnesia when it comes to the deficit?

When Bush took office, the country had both a budget, and social security surplus. When Bush left office both had huge deficits, and they aren't getting any smaller. President Bush rarely used his...

Relief for Deficits?

So far as I know New York and California are deep in debt and needing Federal relief. I find it odd that such a liberal State as California, insisting on the right of undocumented aliens to...

Trade Deficit Reduction via Changes in Exports, Imports or Prices

Today's July trade release was a little bit of a surprise, due to oil [0]; Haver covers the numbers. Calculated Risk discussed the release, and actually took the outcome as a fairly positive,...

Corporate tax policy, budget deficits and the capital stock in a neoclassical model of investment

Or, What would be the net effect on investment of the McCain tax plan?Figure 1: Real nonresidential fixed investment (blue) and investment in equipment and software (red), SAAR. NBER defined...

Extending JGTRRA and EGTRRA under the CBO's March 2008 Baseline

There are many moving parts to McCain's budget policy (see McCain site on the economy, [0]), so I can only undertake a partial analysis. That being said, extension of JGTRRA and EGTRRA is the most...

Current Account Adjustment Redux? What's Different this Time Around

The dollar is on the rebound against the euro [0], [1]. The non-oil trade deficit is shrinking as a share of GDP [2]. Is this a replay of the 1980's adjustment process?A month ago at a conference in...

Two Interesting Facts of the Day

As of 2008Q1, wholly 100% of the increase in the trade deficit since 2001Q4 is accounted for (in a mechanical sense) by the increase in the value of oil imports. And the dollar share of reserves...

How to balance the Federal budget, Bush style, Redux

A year ago, I observed that the Bush Administration was projecting a balanced budget eventually, by assuming away expenditures. We're in for a replay. From Reuters:Bush budget plan likely...

Financial Globalization and the US Current Account Deficit

Matthew Higgins and Thomas Klitgaard at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York discuss the outlook for financing the deficit, going forward, in a new Current Issues. From the introduction:To finance...

The Administration Finds Fiscal Restraint

From the White House OMB on Saturday: Statement by White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle According to news reports today, House and Senate Democratic leaders are nearing...

Budget Deficit Watch: Receipts Stabilize, Deficit Fails to Shrink

Reader CoRev, in commenting on this post, advises me to look at the actual data for October (instead of the CBO estimate) before declaring a trend deterioration in the budget balance. Well, the data...

If this is what Federal receipts look like at full employment...

...then a balanced budget is far off.The CBO released its November budget review yesterday. In this figure, the red dashed line (receipts) is slowing its ascent. Expenditures are falling, but to the...