Deep Dives

The gyms are packed this month as people try to follow through on their New Year’s resolutions to get into better shape. Sara Imhof, Midwest regional director for The Concord Coalition, wrote in an op-ed Sunday that the nation’s fiscal…

Although Federal Reserve officials generally have their hands full with monetary policy, congressional mistakes and miscalculations on the federal budget have led outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to repeatedly offer suggestions on fiscal policy that lawmakers would do well…

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the military is “challenging every past assumption, every past formula” in trying to reorganize itself for 21st century challenges in the face of a rapidly tightening budget.Uncertainties about sequestration and the Fiscal 2014 budget in…

Given the acrimonious political environment and the wide discrepancy between the House and Senate budgets, the conference committee now scheduled to report by Dec.13 begins its work with low expectations. However, if the committee approaches its task with flexibility and…

One of the central problems with the country’s health care system is that it often shields consumers from costs in ways that provide little incentive to hold them down. In many cases, the consumers do not even know the full…

The hope for "regular order" on a budget resolution stalled this week as unfortunate partisan bickering continued over whether lawmakers should proceed with a House and Senate conference committee. Republicans on Tuesday blocked an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Harry…

I. Introduction Federal borrowing is once again near the statutory debt limit. At the end of last year, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner notified Congress that the $16.394 trillion limit had been reached and that his department would begin…

As election day approaches, it is appropriate to look at what we know and what we don’t know about the two candidates’ fiscal policy proposals -- especially since we are unlikely to get any more details before the election. In…