Tag Archives: CBO

Preparing for Obama’s 2015 Budget with a Chart and a Toy

The goal that was identified by Simpson-Bowles was to reduce the deficit as a percentage of GDP to below 3%, but what our budget projection shows is that over the course of the next ten years (or in ten years) … Continue reading

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Reviving the ‘Real World’ Scenario That’s Disappeared from Government Reports

For 50 years or so the federal government has deliberately and to an increasing extent misstated probable future budget deficits. Democrats and Republicans are guilty. The White House is guilty. And so is Congress. Private firms that deliberately misrepresent their … Continue reading

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Why The CBO’s ‘Mr. Smith’ Has More Work To Do

From budget projections released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last week: CBO now expects that output will fall slightly short of its potential, on average, even after the economy has largely recovered from the recent economic downturn. Translation: We’ve … Continue reading

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2013 Most Viewed Posts

Although CYNICONOMICS isn’t quite a year old, we’ll join the bloggers who report their most viewed posts at the end of the calendar year. We added up our page views here and on two other sites that publish our articles … Continue reading

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M.C. Escher and the Impossibility of the Establishment Economic View

It’s easy to show that public institutions such as the Federal Reserve and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) are routinely blindsided by economic developments. You only need to compare their past predictions to real events to see these organizations’ deficiencies. More … Continue reading

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Fonzie or Ponzi? One Theory on the Limits to Government Debt

If you’re part of my generation and watched enough Happy Days back in the day, you know that “the Fonz” had a keen understanding of human nature. And that projecting confidence was a huge part of his alpha male badassness. … Continue reading

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Why the Debt Ceiling Debate Should Be Different This Time

Same political dysfunction. Same blue team indifference to soaring government debt. Same hypocrisy from those on the red team who helped set debt on its upward trajectory. Same lack of any serious effort to tackle the most important issue – … Continue reading

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The Surest Way to Spot Trouble: When Even the CBO Says There’s a Problem

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook this morning, and its government debt projections are dismal. As shown below, the so-called “baseline scenario” that adorns the report’s cover is pointed upwards for the first time, owing … Continue reading

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The Chart That Every Taxpayer Deserves To See

Update – The CBO’s report is now available.  Using its revised projections, I’ve posted a new version of our chart here. You may be aware that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is due to release its 2013 Long-term Budget Outlook in … Continue reading

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Previewing the Bad News That’s Likely to Complicate the Debt Ceiling Battle

The gorilla in the room may sleep soundly for the rest of July and August, but expect a foul temper when he wakes up in September. At that time, Congress once again haggles over our debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Jack … Continue reading

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