Spending | AEIdeas

Thursday, May 23, 2013

The 2 austerity-economic growth charts that Paul Krugman and Steven Rattner will never show you

James Pethokoukis | May 3, 2013, 2:06 pm

Alex Tabarrok has put together his own version of an austerity vs. economic growth chart, using Paul Krugman’s preferred austerity measure, total government expenditure divided by potential GDP (see above chart): Krugman sees “very bad policy” from the decline in … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, U.S. Economy

The Unpossible Chart: Is government spending really at an all-time low?

James Pethokoukis | April 26, 2013, 12:53 pm

I was momentarily taken aback when I read the following bit (in bold) from RDQ Economics: The private economy continues to expand at a solid pace as manufactured output growth averaged 5.2% over the last two quarters, and private-sector job … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, Taxes and Spending

The case for more US austerity right now? This chart suggests there isn’t one

James Pethokoukis | April 24, 2013, 11:50 am

What is the biggest near-term risk to the US economy? Too much debt or too much austerity? The controversy over the Reinhart-Rogoff study is irrelevant here since the US debt-GDP ratio is well below the 90% cliff suggested by that … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, Taxes and Spending

The history of US taxing and spending, all in a single chart

James Pethokoukis | April 10, 2013, 8:52 am

Note the hungry maw at the end of the chart. That represents the budget deficit. And that gap should close substantially over the next decade as the economy continues to recover (assuming no nasty recessions) and discretionary spending declines. But … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, Taxes and Spending

US median annual income falls 1.1% in February, down 6% since the start of the recovery

James Pethokoukis | March 28, 2013, 2:26 pm

Some horrible statistics from The New York Times: – For the first time in over a year, median annual income fell by a statistically significant amount from the previous month, according to a report from Sentier Research, a company run … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, Taxes and Spending

Is the Senate Democrat budget more realistic than the House GOP budget?

James Pethokoukis | March 25, 2013, 11:47 am

The House GOP-Paul Ryan budget would spend 19.5% of GDP over the next decade, matching the post-WWII, pre-Obama average. The Senate Democrat-Patty Murray budget would more or less keep spending at the elevated levels seen since the 2008 election, “averaging … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, Taxes and Spending

Does Ryan’s budget really cut spending and debt too slowly? Nope

James Pethokoukis | March 21, 2013, 10:54 am

Paul Broun, a Republican congressman from Georgia who’s going to run for US Senate, doesn’t much like Paul Ryan’s new budget. His big criticism: Ryan uses a scalpel instead of chainsaw. As Broun wrote in a New York Times op-ed: … read more >

Pethokoukis, Economics, Taxes and Spending

Will the House GOP budget really be a huge political plus in 2014?

James Pethokoukis | March 19, 2013, 10:45 am

Well, this explains a lot. House Republicans clearly believe proposing and passing a budget that balances in ten years will be a big plus for them in the 2014 midterm elections. As Politico reports, an internal GOP poll finds that … read more >

Politics and Public Opinion, Polls

How balanced is a balanced approach to the deficit for most Americans?

Andrew Rugg | March 12, 2013, 1:47 pm

The spending-cut-centric approach to deficit reduction has never been popular with Democrats. With the sequester cuts a reality, those criticisms seem to have increased in volume and frequency. Michael Linden and Michal Ettlinger at the Center for American Progress recently … read more >

Pethokoukis

The US: From warfare state to welfare state

James Pethokoukis | March 11, 2013, 4:17 pm

The Philly Fed: While about 50 percent of expenditures were devoted to national defense in the 1960s, most spending was devoted to welfare programs in 2010. Unemployment, Social Security, health, and education were just 28.9 percent of expenditures in the … read more >