Outside the Beltway

Even if we adopt the “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan, tax hikes are a necessity.

One of the GOP’s staunchest media allies isn’t too impressed with their Balanced Budget Amendment.

Moody’s is on the right track. The current debt ceiling law has done more harm than good.

Let’s look at the actual proposal.

It isn’t just President Obama who should be worried about the economy next year.

Yes, China’s GDP growth has been impressive for some time now, but it is not the sole way to understand development.

I’m continually shocked when demonstrably bright and accomplished people fall in love with authoritarian states.

The White House would really appreciate it if you didn’t pay attention to all that bad economic news.

House and Senate Republicans are pushing a Balanced Budget Amendment. It sounds like a good idea, but it isn’t.

More slow economic growth, the L-shaped recession.

We might be looking at a potential fiscal crisis.

Tim Pawlenty’s new fiscal plan isn’t very grounded in reality.

To the shock of no one, Mitt Romney announced his bid for the GOP presidential nomination today.

Despite what appear to be the fond hope of European central bankers that it will just all go away, something needs to be done. But what?

And even more bad news.

All in all, not looking like it will be a fun summer.

Will days of strong economic growth ever return? And what happens if they don’t?

Obama’s main politics are hardly as leftist as many make them out to be. Indeed, much of them could have fit well in the the GOP of 1990s and early 2000s.

The GOP seems to be telling President Obama that revenue increases are off the table. That’s a huge mistake.

People and businesses are sitting on cash out of fear, creating a vicious cycle.

Can the massive destruction caused by the Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns stimulate the economy?

Moodys warns the the Republican plan to cut spending could cost the economy 700,000 jobs.

The Social Security “trust fund” may actually be worse than worthless.

The drive to cut taxes is at the heart of the budget mess.

President Obama’s new budget involves nothing less than a thumb in the eye of anyone who hoped he would seriously address federal spending in his first term.

While most Americans consider themselves “conservatives,” some conservatives exclude most Americans from the definition.

Does Russia really spend more on roads than we do?

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

The US has always outspent our G7 brethren on healthcare but the divergence has skyrocketed over the last three decades.

The Republican talking point that lowering taxes lowers spending and raising taxes increases spending is denied by reality.

Another round of GDP growth figures are out, and they show that the U.S. economy continues to grow far slower than necessary to sustain job growth. Is this a temporary problem, or something we can expect to live with for the foreseeable future?

While the American economy languishes, China is booming again.

Tonight’s topics: The foreclosure mess, low GDP growth, and the world-wide Tea Party.

The numbers tell us we’re not in a recession, but the public thinks otherwise.

A case study in how one’s choice of graphing techniques can shape a debate over known data.

Great news, everybody: The biggest economic calamity since the Great Depression has been over for well over a year.

The CBO sees a clear threat of a fiscal crisis during the next two decades unless we’re saved by magic ponies.

David Brooks blames our economic woes on a change from a culture that valued productive work to one of gentility. And Bill Cosby.