Sequester | AEIdeas

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Higher taxes, not the sequester, is what’s killing US economic growth — San Francisco Fed

James Pethokoukis | June 10, 2013, 3:19 pm

A new study from the San Francisco Fed estimates US budget policy will knock as much as one percentage point a year from GDP growth over the next three years. And 90% of the fiscal drag comes from higher taxes. … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Defense

Why this defense drawdown must be different: Q&A with Mackenzie Eaglen

Mackenzie Eaglen | May 28, 2013, 4:11 pm

Over two months in, deep and arbitrary budget cuts imposed by sequestration are popping up all over the US military with real consequences for those in uniform. This may be one reason the president’s budget request for next year virtually … read more >

Economics, Taxes and Spending

The only hope for states and localities to get their budgets under control (hint: it’s not more laws)

Abby McCloskey | May 10, 2013, 11:32 am

Actions speak louder than words. And yet words are the favorite fiscal tool of many a state and local policymaker. My colleague Benjamin Zycher released a new paper this week examining state limitations on taxes and expenditures (TELs) for 49 … read more >

Politics and Public Opinion, Polls

The polls this week: Obamacare, the sequester, and immigration

Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg | May 3, 2013, 8:46 am

Support for Obamacare reaches a new low, a majority of Americans are confused by the sequester, and support for a path to citizenship declines. read more >

Pethokoukis

9 reasons why fears about sequestration are overblown

James Pethokoukis | March 4, 2013, 11:45 am

Will sequestration really take a roughly 0.6 percentage point bite out of the US economy this year? That’s what the models of the Congressional Budget Office and many private forecasters are saying. But JPMorgan economist Jim Glassman says those models … read more >

Politics and Public Opinion, Polls

Polling the sequester

Andrew Rugg | March 1, 2013, 12:10 pm

With the sequester drama reaching its zenith, both Republicans and Democrats are arguing over the likely effects of the budget cuts. But another substrata of discussion, one that is receiving a great deal of attention, is what the public thinks … read more >

Economics, Pethokoukis

What austerity in 1946 tells us about the possible economic impact of the sequester

James Pethokoukis | February 28, 2013, 1:57 pm

In 1946, the US economy shrank by 11%. Back to the Great Depression, right? Yes — but only for government. Of that 11 percentage point drop, government spending accounted for a massive 29 percentage points. But the private-sector economy did … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, Taxes and Spending

US needs more private-sector growth, not GDP accounting tricks

James Pethokoukis | February 27, 2013, 9:46 am

Simon Kuznets, the economist who created the accounting mechanism known as gross domestic product, warned that “distinctions must be kept in mind between quantity and quality of growth, between costs and returns, and between the short and long run. Goals … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, Taxes and Spending

Here’s a $300 billion way to offset some of the sequester’s defense cuts

James Pethokoukis | February 26, 2013, 11:09 am

The current US tax code subsidizes more expensive homes at the expense of more business investment — in the process offering the biggest tax benefits to the wealthiest taxpayers. It’s costly policy in more ways than one. The tax break may … read more >

Economics, Pethokoukis, U.S. Economy

Should the sequester spare science?

James Pethokoukis | February 26, 2013, 9:23 am

Current MIT boss Rafael Reif and former Intel boss Craig Barrett make the case in the FT today that the sequester’s across-the-board cuts to federal research spending would be a “mistake” and “further weaken the most powerful stimulant of economic … read more >