We noted earlier today how horrendously misleading and downright incorrect Sen. Grassley's statement about the CBO August Update report was in great detail, but thought it might be appropriate to compile a list of summer reading materials Grassley - or perhaps more importantly his staff - could read to get themselves up to speed on the issue. Tops on the list is Jason Furman's excellent commentary in Slate Magazine concerning the Treasury Department's recent efforts at dynamic analysis. Perhaps the most important finding of the economists at the Treasury Department that Furman highlights is that making the Bush tax cuts permanent is unsustainable. From the Treasury Department report: An important feature of this model is that a permanent reduction in taxes, as compared to baseline, would lead to an unsustainable accumulation of debt. . Furman further notes that if dramatically scaling back discretionary spending (by 50 percent) is an unrealistic option - which it is - then: ...the Treasury economists have another important finding: The sooner we get rid of the tax cuts, the better it will be for the economy. Specifically, they found that national output would be 0.9 percent higher in the long run if we let them expire in 2010 rather than allowing them to continue along, forcing us to face even bigger tax increases in the future to make up for all of the added deficits and debt. We'll give the staff a couple of days to catch up on their summer reading list (we know August can be busy) and get through Furman's article and then post a few others items for them to consult.