People think presidents have a lot of power over the nation’s debt versus its economic growth. They should be looking at Congress. The U.S. national debt, compared with total national output of goods and services, or gross domestic product, fell…
Senators’ plan offers borderline efficiency
Immigration is one of those issues that just does not go away. So proposals recently made by an eight-member bipartisan group of senators are welcome. They generally are sensible, as far as they go. But some aspects of the initiative…
So was Bush the big spender? Or Obama?
Who is really responsible for the mess we are in? Consider two assertions: 1. Federal spending during the Obama administration has averaged 23.5 percent of gross domestic product, which is well above the post-World War II average of 19.1 percent.…
Understanding the issues behind Dayton’s budget proposal
Gov. Mark Dayton has dropped the fiscal puck into play with his proposals for a broader-based but lower-rate sales tax plus higher marginal income tax rates on high incomes. Which goal the puck ends up in is anyone’s guess. Given…