While much of Washington is obsessed with the need to increase the debt limit, many citizens -- and even an elected policymaker -- want to reduce it. This is a clear statement not only of the degree of popular desperation or exasperation about the condition of the country, but also...

Most Americans probably would say that we already have a budget crisis. They have heard crisis talk long and often -- like the little boy crying "wolf." They have seen stories of riots and belt-tightening from Greece and elsewhere in Europe, but those countries are far away and very different...

The fate of former President George W. Bush's expiring 2001 and 2003 tax cuts has been a political dilemma all year. Even with the election resolved, it still is; but now it is an economic dilemma as well.

The uncertainty surrounding those tax cuts was always economically risky. People don't...

You probably have seen the same puzzler that I recall from years ago. Someone hands you a note paper on which are written the words, "The statement on the other side of this paper is true." You turn the paper over and find the words, "The statement on the other...

You've heard the story: A private business borrows money foolishly -- say, to finance a corporate jet used mainly to fly the CEO off to ski. That borrowing surely results in "bad debt" -- not necessarily debt that will not be repaid, but rather debt unwisely incurred, with little offsetting...

Recently, I suggested a legislative deal in which repair of Social Security's finances would motivate Congress to enact economic stimulus. Surprisingly to me, given the fragile state of the economy, there was little reaction to the need for stimulus -- and part of what reaction there was, was skeptical. Most...

Co-authored with Joseph E. Kasputys, Chairman and Founder IHS Global Insight

Before the economic and financial crisis hit with full force in 2008, we warned of the dangers of imbalances in the global economy. These global imbalances largely reflected underlying national imbalances in the United States, China, and other major...

The federal government and the economy are caught in a fiscal dilemma. The economy is stumbling to its feet after a bruising fall, and risks falling again -- harder, and with even worse consequences. There is a strong case that it needs support from a new economic stimulus program, and...