Right of Center America


Book Description

Right of Center America describes where America's federal budget and national debt are today and details how they can be brought under control. This book is not about ideological battles. It is not about the Right vs. Left. It does not rehash the same tired arguments about spending reductions versus tax increases. Instead it provides simple, detailed solutions to reduce the federal budget and national debt. These solutions involve both decreasing some and increasing other federal department's budgets and cutting some and increasing other taxes. Some recommendations you might have heard before, but most are new ideas, especially when dealing with America's biggest challenges.In addition to addressing the federal budget and national debt, Right of Center America also solves the biggest challenges facing America.1) An energy plan that drastically reduces America's dependency on foreign oil AND idles all coal, petroleum, and gas fueled power plants over the next 45 years.2) An education plan ensures EVERY American has access to the best possible education.3) Health Care reform that actually decreases the COST of Health Care by more than 20 percent and provides insurance coverage for those Americans that cannot afford it.4) Economic and tax policy that will spur long-term investment in AMERICAN companies.5) Entitlement reform that GUARANTEES safety-net programs, Social Security, and Medicare benefits.6) A reigning in of defense and foreign policy spending.7) Common sense immigration reform with a secure border and work-to-citizenship visas.8) Election and judicial reform that increase government transparency and turnover.Product Description:How can the U.S. decrease its national debt by 60 percent over the next twenty years while solving the most pressing challenges of today? Many books explain the problems presented by the current U.S. fiscal federal budget crisis, but none provide a comprehensive proposal to correct it. Right of Center America not only details the federal budget, it provides a specific plan that eliminates the federal deficit and reduces the national debt. The book details a strategy of how federal programs should be evaluated and the resulting analysis of this review.Right of Center America shows what America can do when it is fiscally responsible. Detailed, innovative plans are presented that would fix America's biggest challenges. Entitlements are made solvent. Health care costs are reduced and insurance coverage is provided for the poor. Every American is guaranteed the best public education by empowering both the teacher and the parent. Illegal immigration is curtailed. An energy plan is detailed that drastically reduces the use of petroleum and coal over the next 30 years. A fiscally responsible foreign policy is introduced. Common sense economic, tax, election, and judicial reforms are presented.These challenges are solved while reducing the deficit and without massive tax increases. Nowhere else will you find such creative, simple, and feasible solutions. Right of Center America is written for those Americans who are not ideologically tied to a political party. This book focuses on fiscal matters and does not delve into social issues. This biggest problems facing America today, the problems that will cripple the next generation of Americans, are fiscal issues.With a national debt exceeding $13 trillion, an annual federal budget deficit close to $500 billion, and interest payments approaching $500 billion per year, this book is a must read.If you only read one chapter of my book, please read chapter seven. I provide detailed examples on how to reduce the cost of health care by a conservative 21% without the need for federally managed health care system. In fact, my plan would actually result in a reduction of health care costs by more than a third, but I only use worst-case scenarios in my figures. More importantly, I believe this could be a bipartisan plan that both parties could support.




Balanced Budgets and American Politics


Book Description

A topical issue but hardly a new one, the concern for balancing the federal budget has been a perennial source of conflict in American political life. In Balanced Budgets and American Politics, James Savage explores the causes and development of the nation's preoccupation with this issue. Savage argues that the American fascination with the idea of balancing the federal budget is deeply rooted and reflects more than a contemporary concern about interest rates, inflation, or even the outcome of recent budget battles. His analysis demonstrates the considerable influence that the principle budget balancing has had on politics and public policy from 1690 through Ronald Reagan's first term as president.




America's Fiscal Constitution


Book Description

What would Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, Truman, and Eisenhower have done about today's federal debt crisis? America's Fiscal Constitution tells the remarkable story of fiscal heroes who imposed clear limits on the use of federal debt, limits that for two centuries were part of an unwritten constitution. Those national leaders borrowed only for extraordinary purposes and relied on well-defined budget practices to balance federal spending and revenues. That traditional fiscal constitution collapsed in 2001. Afterward -- for the first time in history -- federal elected officials cut taxes during war, funded permanent new programs entirely with debt, grew dependent on foreign creditors, and claimed that the economy could not thrive without routine federal borrowing. For most of the nation's history, conservatives fought to restrain the growth of government by insisting that new programs be paid for with taxation, while progressives sought to preserve opportunities for people on the way up by balancing budgets. Virtually all mainstream politicians recognized that excessive debt could jeopardize private investment and national independence. With original scholarship and the benefit of experience in finance and public service, Bill White dispels common budget myths and distills practical lessons from the nation's five previous spikes in debt. America's Fiscal Constitution offers an objective and hopeful guide for people trying to make sense of the nation's current, most severe, debt crisis and its impact on their lives and our future.







Fiscal Policy after the Financial Crisis


Book Description

The recent recession has brought fiscal policy back to the forefront, with economists and policy makers struggling to reach a consensus on highly political issues like tax rates and government spending. At the heart of the debate are fiscal multipliers, whose size and sensitivity determine the power of such policies to influence economic growth. Fiscal Policy after the Financial Crisis focuses on the effects of fiscal stimuli and increased government spending, with contributions that consider the measurement of the multiplier effect and its size. In the face of uncertainty over the sustainability of recent economic policies, further contributions to this volume discuss the merits of alternate means of debt reduction through decreased government spending or increased taxes. A final section examines how the short-term political forces driving fiscal policy might be balanced with aspects of the long-term planning governing monetary policy. A direct intervention in timely debates, Fiscal Policy after the Financial Crisis offers invaluable insights about various responses to the recent financial crisis.




Comeback America


Book Description

He's one of America's most capable, canny, candid, and independent financial experts. Now David M. Walker sounds a call to action. Comeback America is a tough-minded, innovative, inspiring guide to help us avoid the approaching economic abyss and put the country back on track again. As comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—"the nation's top auditor"—Walker warned Congress and the administration as the federal surplus became a giant deficit under George W. Bush. As president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, he now works full-time to raise public awareness regarding mounting debt burdens being imposed on future generations. Comeback America is his crucial manifesto, a way for President Obama to end out-of-control government spending and reform our tax, retirement, health care, defense, and other systems—before it's too late. Walker believes that by 2030, absent significant reforms to current government programs and policies, federal taxes could double from current levels, meaning less money and poorer education for kids—which will hurt families along with our nation's economic strength and position in the world. If our foreign creditors—such as China—decide to buy fewer of our Treasury bonds, interest rates will rise and cars and homes will become less affordable. But it doesn't have to be that way. Comeback America shows how we can return to our founding principles of fiscal responsibility and stewardship for future generations. The book includes bold ideas to control spending, save Social Security, dramatically alter Medicare, and simplify the tax code—all taking into account the Obama Administration's current efforts, which receive never-before-published assessments both complimentary and critical. Nonpartisan, nonideological, and filled with a love of the country its esteemed author has spent his life serving, Comeback America is a book for anyone interested in America's economic future—in other words, a book everyone should read.




The Moment of Truth the Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform - Debt Commission Report - December 2010


Book Description

This is the report of the Debt Commission of the United States Government. President Barack Obama commissioned a bipartisan panel to investigate the staggering National Debt and annual deficit of the United States Federal Government. The terrifying findings of that commission were published in this report in December 2010. It is titled "The Moment of Truth." Throughout our nation's history, Americans have found the courage to do right by our children's future. Deep down, every American knows we face a moment of truth once again. We cannot play games or put off hard choices any longer. Without regard to party, we have a patriotic duty to keep the promise of America to give our children and grandchildren a better life. Our challenge is clear and inescapable: America cannot be great if we go broke. Our businesses will not be able to grow and create jobs, and our workers will not be able to compete successfully for the jobs of the future without a plan to get this crushing debt burden off our backs. Ever since the economic downturn, families across the country have huddled around kitchen tables, making tough choices about what they hold most dear and what they can learn to live without. They expect and deserve their leaders to do the same. The American people are counting on us to put politics aside, pull together not pull apart, and agree on a plan to live within our means and make America strong for the long haul. As members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, we spent the past eight months studying the same cold, hard facts. Together, we have reached these unavoidable conclusions: The problem is real. The solution will be painful. There is no easy way out. Everything must be on the table. And Washington must lead. We come from different backgrounds, represent different regions, and belong to different parties, but we share a common belief that America's long-term fiscal gap is unsustainable and, if left unchecked, will see our children and grandchildren living in a poorer, weaker nation. In the words of Senator Tom Coburn, "We keep kicking the can down the road, and splashing the soup all over our grandchildren." Every modest sacrifice we refuse to make today only forces far greater sacrifices of hope and opportunity upon the next generation. Over the course of our deliberations, the urgency of our mission has become all the more apparent. The contagion of debt that began in Greece and continues to sweep through Europe shows us clearly that no economy will be immune. If the U.S. does not put its house in order, the reckoning will be sure and the devastation severe. The President and the leaders of both parties in both chambers of Congress asked us to address the nation's fiscal challenges in this decade and beyond. We have worked to offer an aggressive, fair, balanced, and bipartisan proposal - a proposal as serious as the problems we face. None of us likes every element of our plan, and each of us had to tolerate provisions we previously or presently oppose in order to reach a principled compromise. We were willing to put our differences aside to forge a plan because our nation will certainly be lost without one. We do not pretend to have all the answers. We offer our plan as the starting point for a serious national conversation in which every citizen has an interest and all should have a say. Our leaders have a responsibility to level with Americans about the choices we face, and to enlist the ingenuity and determination of the American people in rising to the challenge. We believe neither party can fix this problem on its own, and both parties have a responsibility to do their part. The American people are a long way ahead of the political system in recognizing that now is the time to act.




Deficit Politics in the United States


Book Description

From the clashes between Federalists and Republicans in the 1790s until today, partisan battles over taxing, spending, and public debt have shaped American political development. These battles were formerly constrained by fiscal norms that mandated balanced budgets and low debt. In his Farewell Address, President George Washington counseled the nation to "cherish public credit" by using "it as sparingly as possible". In the 1980s, however, tax cuts and spending increases created large structural deficits and much higher debt levels. With only a brief interruption in the late 1990s, deficit politics has been a mainstay ever since. Over this period, the Republican Party has passed large tax cuts but failed to retrench the large entitlement programs that continue to raise spending. Likewise, the Democratic Party has expanded the domestic role of government but has abandoned the broad-based taxation it supported in the 1990s. Funding their domestic agenda with matching revenues is now as unappealing for Democrats as entitlement cutbacks are for Republicans, contributing to the current stalemate of Republican tax policy, Democratic spending policy, and soaring deficits and debt. The economic risks this entails are serious, yet an end to the era of deficit politics is nowhere in sight.




Debt and Taxes


Book Description