Revenue & Spending / Federal Budget Policy
To Avoid More Bridges Collapsing, We Need More Infrastructure Investment
May 24, 2013 by Nick Schwellenbach
The Interstate 5 (I-5) highway bridge collapse—which sent cars and people into the Skagit River without any fatalities—near Mount Vernon in Washington State should be a stark reminder that we urgently need to expand investments into repairing and upgrading our nation’s infrastructure.
The need is immense.
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Why Non-Defense Discretionary Spending Keeps Getting Cut
May 23, 2013 by Nick Schwellenbach
The biggest difference among the three budget plans that official Washington is currently considering is spending for non-defense discretionary programs, which includes education, infrastructure, food safety, environmental protection and other essential public investments the public says it wants government to continue to make. A chart created by the Congressional Budget Office – shows the differences between President Obama and Senate Democrats’ budget plans versus the House Republican spending blueprint.
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The Lack of Jobs Is the Problem, Not Deficits
May 15, 2013 by Nick Schwellenbach
Budget deficits are shrinking at a breakneck pace now and will continue to do so over the next several years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which released its latest projections on the budget and the economy on May 14. Meanwhile, we have anemic jobs growth that’s worse than it should be, in large part because of all the extreme deficit reduction measures we’ve seen over the last few years.
read in full Hang Together or Hang Separately: The Battle Against Austerity
May 7, 2013
Sequestration's automatic spending cuts were back in the news over the past few weeks. For a brief time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had to furlough employees, leading to nationwide flight delays. At roughly the same time, a researcher exposed major flaws in one of the key texts serving as an intellectual buttress to global austerity policies. While those fighting against economically damaging austerity measures received a boost from these events, many fiscal policy battles and pitfalls still lie ahead.
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Sequestering Meals on Wheels Could Cost the Nation $489 Million per Year
Apr 30, 2013
Sequestering Meals on Wheels funds could cost taxpayers far more than it saves. While across-the-board spending cuts that began March 1, called sequestration, are expected to reduce spending on Meals on Wheels programs this year by an estimated $10 million, these savings will dwarfed by at least $489 million per year in increased spending on Medicaid, both this year and in each subsequent year that sequestration remains in place.
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President's Budget Carries Outsized Economic and Political Risks
Apr 23, 2013
On April 10, President Obama released his proposed budget for the 2014 budget year. Unlike in the past, this year's budget came very late, after both the House and Senate had passed their respective budget plans. The president's plan is being billed by some as a compromise between the House and Senate.
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The Truth About Corporate Tax Rates
Apr 11, 2013
The tax rate is 35%. Corporations complain it's too high. But how much are they really paying? From We're Not Broke, the story of U.S. corporations dodging billions of dollars in income tax...
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How Do Giant Corporations Get Away with "Legal" Tax Cheating?
Apr 9, 2013
See how multinational corporations lobby to write their own tax laws. From We're Not Broke, the story of U.S. corporations dodging billions of dollars in income tax, and how seven fed-up Americans take their frustration to the streets ... and vow to make the corporations pay their fair share.
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House Budget Plans Do Not Reflect Americans' Views on Public Investments
Apr 8, 2013
Sequestration's automatic cuts to federal spending are beginning to sting in communities across the country, and two of the four major congressional budget plans put forth this year are at odds with public opinion on specific areas of public investments, according to a Center for Effective Government analysis. As the Pew Research Center found in a pre-sequestration poll in February, most Americans say they support maintaining or increasing funding for specific federal programs, including education, Social Security, and Medicare.
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Americans' Views on Spending Versus Federal Budget Plans
Apr 2, 2013
President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget request is at odds with the majority of Americans’ views on Social Security, according to recent Pew Research Center polling of some 1,500 Americans. Obama has proposed to modify how regular Social Security benefit increases are calculated by switching to a "chained" Consumer Price Index (CPI) to determine the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which would lead to benefit cuts for Social Security recipients over time. Social Security is extremely popular with 87 percent of Americans who support maintaining or increasing spending in this area.
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