PolicyBlog

The following is a guest column I wrote with fellow former Member of Congress Dave McCurdy (D-OK) which ran in the Des Moines Register on 11/12/11.Our rapidly growing national debt has put our country at risk. We used to say that our failure as a nation to make the hard financial decisions would impact the prosperity and wellbeing of our children and grandchildren.Now the future is here. It’s no longer about just our descendants. All of us are likely to soon face the consequences of inaction.If... Read More

[This is the tenth installment of a blog series Tom is writing on the national debt crisis.  They all can be seen here. Related, see also our signature on these two open letters. – CZ] Without economic growth, it’s virtually impossible to address the long-term debt problem confronting the federal government.  Even with cuts far greater than anything being proposed by the Simpson-Bowles Commission or the Senate’s “Gang of Six -- or even Senator Rand Paul’s $9 trillion package, without growth,... Read More

[This is the ninth installment of a blog series Tom is writing on the national debt crisis.  They all can be seen here. Related, see also our signature on these two open letters. – CZ] The storyline of the U.S. debt crisis is not always predictable.  The controversial S&P downgrade of U.S. debt is the latest sad chapter.   But the basic plot is becomingly increasingly clear:  the United States is reeling from a debt crisis; that’s different from a normal recession. For much of recent history,... Read More

[This is the eighth installment of a blog series Tom is writing on the national debt crisis.  They all can be seen here. Related, see also our signature on these two open letters. – CZ]  The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) describes the sheer size of the federal tax code as “several volumes longer than the Bible.”  Such a complicated mess imposes needless costs upon both businesses and individuals.  A simplified system, with lower marginal rates but fewer deductions and... Read More

[This is the seventh installment of a blog series Tom is writing on the national debt crisis.  The first six are here, here, here, here, here, and here. Related, see also our signature on these two open letters. – CZ] Lifting the debt ceiling is necessary, but it’s not the main event.  The main event is restructuring the federal government and what it does so that it is financially sustainable.  Why is this necessary?     Let’s start with the urban legend about a frog.  If you drop one into a... Read More

[This is the sixth installment of a blog series Tom is writing on the national debt crisis.  The first five are here, here, here, here, and here. Related, see also our signature on this open letter. – CZ] Let’s be clear:  the two proposals being presented to the House and Senate by Speaker Boehner and Leader Reid are not solutions to the debt problem.  We encourage these efforts to cut deficits and raise the debt ceiling.  But they are simply the first steps in the long journey America must... Read More

[This is the fifth installment of a blog series Tom is writing on the national debt crisis.  The first four are here, here, here and here. Related, see also our signature on this open letter. – CZ]  Many comparisons have been made between the financial crisis and economic downturn that produced Japan’s Lost Decades and the financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn that began for the United States in 2008.  There are many eerie similarities, right down to the “cures” attempted by both... Read More

[This is the fourth installment of a blog series Tom is writing on the national debt crisis.  The first three are here, here and here. – CZ]   With the national debt hurtling towards the day when it will eclipse America’s GDP, many pundits have been weighing in on exactly when too much debt officially becomes Too Much Debt.  Some have suggested that the US faced an even greater debt burden at the end of World War II, and thus there should be little cause for concern over our current situation. ... Read More

[This is the third installment of a blog series Tom is writing on the national debt crisis.  The first two are here and here. – CZ]  The dollar has an enemy.  It cannot be bribed or bargained with, cannot be killed or wounded, and certainly cannot be ignored forever.  It is a cold, unyielding, inescapable foe. This enemy is math.  The math of growing federal deficits.   For three years, the federal government has run deficits in excess of a trillion dollars.  As official Washington struggles to... Read More