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By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon - The upcoming debt-ceiling vote poses the first real test of the new but small Republican majority in the House. The Biden administration and Democrats will have little incentive to negotiate on the debt ceiling unless House Republicans are capable of passing a debt ceiling that contains reforms that the general public views as being reasonable and responsible. Simply casting an easy “no” vote on the debt ceiling will spawn a crisis that puts Democrats back in control of spending as Republicans are ultimately forced to break ranks and join the Democrats in raising…
By Paul Ryan - U.S. fiscal policy is on a collision course with monetary policy. The economic devastation resulting from a debt and currency crisis could inflict enormous—possibly irreparable—damage. Predicting precisely when a huge debt and high deficits will unleash economic disaster is difficult. The dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency gives the U.S. unique advantages, but no country can defy the laws of economic gravity forever. The U.S. has run up large budget deficits and debts before, but those moments of national emergency, such as world wars or global financial crises, were usually—at least until recently—followed by periods…
By Phil Gramm and Rick Scott - The U.S. economy clearly has the power to iron out the natural problems of restarting production, but the very nature of the subsidies in the $6 trillion Biden administration stimulus, relief and infrastructure bills constrain production. In its modern incarnation, socialism denies that government incentives and constraints have anything to do with people’s decisions to work, save and invest. Experience teaches otherwise. The clearest example is the federal supplement to unemployment payments. The federal payments have made not working a viable or even preferred option to working. And it isn’t only excessive jobless…
By Joseph C. Sternberg - Between the infrastructure and reconciliation bills in various stages of debate, it’s worth discussing in some depth how all this will be paid for. Government spending is conventionally understood as a matter of increased taxation and debt, a framing that has the virtue of being true. But that conversation is incomplete without also exploring the concept of financial repression—which ultimately underlies both the taxes and debt. Read More
By Mitch Daniels - President Biden’s debt-cancellation announcement represents the final confession of failure for a venture flawed in concept, botched in execution, and draped with duplicity.… It’s grossly unfair to those who repaid what they borrowed …It’s grotesquely expensive, adding hundreds of billions to a federal debt that already threatens our safety-net programs and national security. Like so much of what government does, it’s iatrogenic, inflating college costs as schools continue to pocket the subsidies … And it’s profanely contemptuous of the Constitution, which authorizes only Congress to spend money….Read Mor Read More
By Phil Gramm and Mike Solon - Then as now, what drove higher prices was excess demand owing to runaway government spending. Ronald Reagan and Paul Volcker understood. History withholds its wisdom from those who ignore its lessons. Forty years ago this month, the fiscal policy of President Ronald Reagan and the monetary policy of Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker broke the back of the 20th century’s most destructive inflation, ushered in an economic expansion that effectively lasted a quarter of a century, and banished inflation—until now. Read More