opinion
NO EFFORT
Unserious skeleton bills like “Medicare for All” imagine a fantasy America of massive government entitlements, but lack even the pretense of specifics.
Brian Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of the new report “A Comprehensive Federal Budget Plan to Avert a Debt Crisis.” Follow him on twitter @Brian_Riedl.
opinion
THIS ISN’T NEW
President Biden frames the GOP as “hostage takers,” but both parties have historically demanded new policies attached to debt limit increases.
opinion
CALM DOWN, THINK THIS THROUGH
Democrats are resorting to pre-election scare-mongering, but Republicans aren’t trying to gut Social Security, they’re trying to save it.
opinion
DROWNING IN DEBT
The fiscally irresponsible 45th president somehow bloated deficits more in four years than his predecessors did in eight.
opinion
RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE
Instead of taking straightforward steps to do that, he’s proposing convoluted schemes that would distort markets while likely failing to deliver the revenue he says they would.
opinion
MARK-TO-MARKET MESS
It’s an unworkable and possibly unconstitutional idea, but some members of the party seem determined to see it through.
opinion
MATH PROBLEM
It’s as much a math problem as a political one: The numbers simply do not add up.
opinion
BRINKMANSHIP
Democrats could raise the ceiling by themselves, but they want Republicans to let them off the hook by supplying the votes they’d prefer not to cast.
opinion
SOME SPENDING SPREE
The danger of soaring debt is that—much like global warming—by the time you can directly feel its effects, it is too late to address them without significant pain.
opinion
A BETTER PATH
Before hiking taxes on the wealthiest Americans, start by slashing the spending that goes to them.