Just a short rant about the deficit situation from the latest Washington deal.
Can we recognize nobody cares about deficits and debts?
National Debt Discussion
The national debt is typically only a concern for the party out of power, if at all. In such a case it is a convenient foil to majority’s plan to increase spending or raise taxes.
Continue reading National Debt DiscussionI enjoyed watching this hearing on the national debt and the economy from the House Financial Services Committee and decided it would be a good thing to post.
Debt Ceiling, Again
It surprised few that the debt ceiling is a topic of discussion again, although the way this is unfolding may actually be a surprise. The leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate both seem convinced there will be an approval of a debt ceiling increase before the end of the government’s fiscal year. For the time being markets seem to largely believe this.
Update on Up in Smoke
So J.T. and I discussed my post on tobacco bonds while I was on the radio today. One of the things that amazed him, and me too, was the notion the rate of smoking fell more than assumed. So, doing what I do, I went online and got some data, this time from the OECD.
All that tobacco money up in smoke
The Washington Post had an excellent piece on states and how they handled their tobacco settlement dollars (available here). It is a longer article but well worth the read given that it is one of the first analyses of what states are doing with the money from this settlement. The answer for many: squandering it. I am not going to rehash all the details of the article but there are bigger issues to tackle.