FY2009 Deficit = FY2000 Spending

Total federal spending in FY2000:  $1.79 Trillion.
Total estimated FY2009 deficit according to today’s budget blueprint: $1.75 Trillion.

“It Is a Sordid Business, This Divvying Us by Race”

Yesterday Cato filed a brief in what will be one of the most talked-about cases in the current Supeme Court term, Ricci v. DeStefano.
In Ricci, the City of New Haven, Connecticut developed an exam for firefighters seeking promotion to command positions. The city went out of its way to ensure that the exam was race-neutral […]

Hmmmm, Why Would That Be?

Weak Health Care Stocks Drag Market Lower
      - Associated Press, February 26, 2009
Obama Proposes $634 Billion Fund for Health Care
      - Washington Post, February 26, 2009
So the government wants to take over one-seventh of the U.S. economy and the market drops.  I’m shocked. 

Obama’s $1.3 Trillion Tax Hike

Here are some notes on the tax proposals in the new federal budget:  (See Table S-6; All figures are 10-year totals)

There are $770 billion in “tax cuts for families and individuals.”  However, the fine print on page 129 shows that $326 billion of that is actually spending, or the “refundable” portion of the tax changes. That leaves […]

Obama Budget Irresponsibility Inconsistency

Page 14 of the President’s FY2010 budget “blueprint” contains a section called “Fiscal Irresponsibility” that deserves scrutiny:
“Another manifestation of irresponsibility is the large budget deficits we are inheriting. These deficits, over time, will harm economic growth and impose burdens on our children and grandchildren.”
True.
“Between 2000 and 2008, real Government outlays increased at a 3.6 percent […]

How to Spend a Trillion Dollars without Waste and Fraud

You can’t.
And the federal government knows it. On Tuesday,
Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, told a House subcommittee that the government’s experiences in the reconstruction of Iraq, hurricane-relief programs and the 1990s savings-and-loan bailout suggest the rescue program could be ripe for fraud….
Gene Dodaro, acting comptroller general […]