The estate tax is one facet of this week’s fiscal cliff agreement that has gotten little attention. This is interesting, as the amounts of money potentially in play were at least as large as those for other issues. The switch…
Debt reduction is the real issue in ‘fiscal cliff’ vote
After much drama, both houses of Congress have agreed with the president on a short-term plan to deal with the “fiscal cliff.” No party seems very happy with it. This general lack of enthusiasm might be a good sign, an…
Pro- or anti-Keynes, something has to give on fiscal cliff
When one category of national production, such as consumption spending, decreases, then one or more of the three other categories must increase by at least the same amount or Gross Domestic Product will decline. And that means national income declines.…
The inescapable arithmetic of GDP
When Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke coined the phrase “fiscal cliff” nearly a year ago, the danger he saw was the recessionary effect of cutting spending and increasing taxes too drastically. So it is ironic that all the debate right…