Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'United States federal budget'

March 07, 2014

Explainer: What is President Obama’s Budget?

What is the President’s budget? Technically, it’s only a budget request—a proposal telling Congress how much money the President believes should be spent on the various Cabinet-level federal functions, like agriculture, defense, education, etc. Continue Reading...
December 06, 2012

The FAQs: The Fiscal Cliff Proposals

Now that we know what the fiscal cliff is all about, what are the plans for dealing with it? Below are the four approaches that have been proposed: The Democrats’ Plan Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner offered the White House’s fiscal cliff proposal to Republicans in the last week of November. Continue Reading...
November 30, 2012

Why Soaking the Rich Won’t Fix the Deficit

In a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll on methods to avoid the “fiscal cliff”, sixty percent of Americans support raising taxes on incomes more than $250,000 a year (73 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of independents, and 39 percent of Republicans). Continue Reading...
November 30, 2012

Spartan Austerity and the Fiscal Cliff

The latest step in the budget dance between House Republicans and the White House has to do with where tax increases (or revenue increases in general, depending on what is called what) fit with a deal to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Continue Reading...
November 22, 2011

A Failure to Govern?

It seems that the supercommittee (the US Congress Joint Select Committee on Defict Reduction) has failed to agree on $1.5 trillion in cuts over the next decade. In lieu of this “failure,” automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion will kick in. Continue Reading...
August 10, 2011

Protect the Poor, Not Poverty Programs

My contribution to today’s Acton News & Commentary. Sign up for the free weekly Acton email newsletter here. Protect the Poor, Not Poverty Programs By John Couretas One of the disturbing aspects of the liberal/progressive faith campaign known as the Circle of Protection is that its organizers have such little regard – indeed are blind to — the innate freedom of the human person. Continue Reading...
July 25, 2011

The Real Both/And Budget Solution

I had the pleasure of appearing on Relevant Radio last Friday to talk to Sheila Liaugminas on her show, “A Closer Look.” I discussed the idea of “intergenerational justice,” a term favored by evangelicals (Roman Catholics tend to talk about “intergenerational solidarity”), and how that concept relates to much of today’s discussion about the federal budget. Continue Reading...
July 20, 2011

Achieving Real Budget Reform

John Boehner recently stated, in the debt-ceiling talks, that “We’re going to continue and renew our efforts for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government,” which most Americans agree with in principle.  Continue Reading...