The Debt

Forget Tax Cuts: Trump’s Immigration Policy Is Drowning Out GOP Issues

By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Republicans had planned to focus on the tax cuts this week as we approach the six-month anniversary of the Trump administration's major legislative achievement, the passage of the tax bill in...
The Politics Behind Permanent Trillion-Dollar Deficits

By Yuval Rosenberg

Budget Guy Stan Collender writes that budget deficits under the Trump administration are projected to hit $1 trillion in 2020 — and keep rising to $1.5 trillion in fiscal 2028. “But what’s most...
Another Way Trump’s Trade War Could Hurt the US

By Yuval Rosenberg

Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at the Bleakley Advisory Group, adds another wrinkle to the dangers of an emerging trade war. In a Monday morning email, Boockvar notes that foreigners were...
3 Reasons More Tax Cuts Would Be a Terrible Idea, According to the Center for American Progress

By Yuval Rosenberg

Round One was bad. Round Two would only make things worse. That’s the argument Seth Hanlon and Galen Hendricks of the liberal Center for American Progress make in a new analysis of additional tax...
Team Trump Sees a Long-Term Boom Ahead. The IMF Disagrees.

By Yuval Rosenberg

The tax cuts and spending increases enacted by the Trump administration and Congress will increase the risks to the U.S. and global economy, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday in an annual...

Why Trump’s Spending Clawbacks Matter ... and Why They Don’t

By Yuval Rosenberg

In a party-line vote, the House on Thursday evening narrowly passed the White House’s proposal to claw back nearly $15 billion in previously approved federal funding that was never spent. The vote...
Do Deficit Hawks Have a Snowball’s Chance in Hell in Today’s Politics?

By Michael Rainey

When Starbucks founder and executive chairman Howard Schultz announced his retirement earlier this week, he set off a round of speculation about a possible presidential run in 2020. Schultz has never...
Rates on US Bonds Now Higher Than for Other Developed Countries

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Rising interest rates in the U.S. have pushed the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds higher than the yields for similar government bonds from seven major developed countries for the first times since...
3 Big Risks the US Faces as Debt Levels Soar

By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

In a new note to clients, Goldman Sachs economists say that U.S. fiscal outlook “is not good.” If you’re reading this you likely already knew that the picture isn’t pretty — but the new Goldman Sachs...
How Rising Deficits Could Cause Interest Rates to Jump

By Yuval Rosenberg

In a note to clients on Saturday, Goldman Sachs economists say that the larger deficits resulting from Congress’ recent tax cuts and spending increases could drive interest rates higher in at least a...

Why the GOP Tax Cuts Could Cost Even More Than Expected

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Republican tax overhaul will decrease government revenue and increase the deficit by nearly $1.5 trillion over 10 years before accounting for any offsetting growth effects, according to estimates...
Are We Turning the Dials the Wrong Way?

By Yuval Rosenberg

“Federal fiscal policy is entering uncharted territory,” Goldman Sachs economists Alec Phillips and Blake Taylor warned Sunday in a research note. Their title: “What’s Wrong with Fiscal Policy?” You...
Debt Could Soar Much Higher Than White House Claims, Budget Group Warns

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget predicted Thursday that an independent analysis of the president’s budget “will show much higher deficits and debt as a percent of Gross Domestic...
Can Mick Mulvaney Still Call Himself a Deficit Hawk?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, may have just put out a budget proposal that never reaches balance and that projects more than $7 trillion in deficits over...
Massive Spending Deal Brings Government Shutdown to an End

By Jacob Pramuk, CNBC

President Donald Trump signed a major budget plan into law Friday, ending the year's second government shutdown hours after it started. Both chambers of Congress passed a short-term funding bill in...