The National Debt Crisis

In a largely symbolic gesture, the House of Representatives yesterday passed an updated “pay-as-you-go” bill (also known as PayGo) intended to constrain deficit spending.  In a nutshell, PayGo requires that new government spending or tax cuts be offset by corresponding spending cuts or tax increases.  In theory, as long as the PayGo rules are followed, the deficit would not get any worse.

There are two problems, however, with this new PayGo bill.  Read the rest of this entry »

Suddenly, President Barack Obama’s push for health care reform (also known as ObamaCare)doesn’t look like such a sure thing.  Not only have Republicans stepped up their opposition, but many members of his own party are voicing their concerns as well.

Americans appear to have a clear case of sticker shock, and members of Congress are beginning to take notice. Read the rest of this entry »

President Obama and Congressional leaders are putting on the full-court press to get a health care reform bill passed by August.  Without question, America’s health care system has issues and needs to be improved.  But I have grave concerns about the current proposals being discussed to “fix” our health care system.

I’m especially concerned about the so-called “public option” Read the rest of this entry »

The Associated Press had an interesting article yesterday, announcing that the federal budget deficit has surpassed the one trillion dollar mark for the first time in history.  Granted, it’s a big deal, and it’s right to acknowledge the moment, but quite honestly, we’ve known it was coming. Read the rest of this entry »

There is much talk circulating Washington about the need for a second stimulus package.  It seems the logic goes something like this…"The economy was in worse shape than we thought, so the first stimulus package wasn’t enough to pull us out of the recession.  We need a second stimulus package if we are going to have a recovery."

Let’s look at the facts, though.  The first stimulus package was a record $787 billion.  Americans were promised Read the rest of this entry »