Economic Policy News
The Daily Signal provides economic policy news with reporting, analysis, and commentary on markets, growth, and fiscal responsibility.
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- Opinion
What’s Driving the Rapid Growth of Welfare Spending
The fastest growing category in many state budgets? It’s not education. It’s not infrastructure. It’s welfare spending. Costing more than $1 trillion per year, the nation’s current welfare system is enormous, but much of this spending is counterproductive. Today’s welfare programs undermine work and marriage, leading to a broadening pattern of intergenerational dependence and self-defeating…Paul Winfree -
- Opinion
CBO Needs to Ask “Where Will the Money Come From” When Dynamically Scoring Spending
When a family want to spend more money on a house, a car, education, or anything else they want to buy, the first question they ask themselves is “Where will the money come from?” When Congress asks the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to score how spending increases will affect the economy, the CBO does not…Curtis Dubay -
- News
How a Case About Headstones Could Send Economic Liberty Before the Supreme Court
Dennis Flynn’s ties to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark run deep: he’s been a parishioner there since he was 3 years old, he and his wife were married there, their children were wed in the parish and their grandchildren have all been baptized in the archdiocese’s churches. Flynn’s mother and father, as well as…Melissa Quinn -
- Opinion
How Welfare Spending Hurts the People It’s Supposed to Help
Federal and state governments spent $1.02 trillion on welfare in 2014—an increase of $274 billion, or 36 percent, since 2003 after adjusting for inflation. At the federal level, the welfare bureaucracy spans numerous agencies and includes more than 80 different means-tested aid programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care and social services to poor…Paul Winfree -
- Opinion
Cultural Woes Affect Our Economy, Too
A thriving society needs a strong economy. The reverse is just as true: A healthy economy is built on a vibrant culture that promotes individual and social well-being. It’s helpful to think of a society as an ecosystem—one in which cultural, political and economic spheres greatly overlap. As in any ecosystem, change in one sector…Rachel Sheffield -
- Opinion
The Connection Between Economic and Cultural Policies
As we publish the second Index of Culture and Opportunity, I am reminded of the differences between how Washington operates and how real life happens across America. Inside the Beltway, federal policymakers tend to think in terms that separate “economic” policy from “social” policy. But life in homes and communities around the country doesn’t organize…Jim DeMint -
- Opinion
Greek Economy Has Shrunk More Than U.S. Did in Great Depression
After 1945, the U.S. promoted economic freedom and growth in Europe to keep Communism at bay. Today, by backing the European Union in Greece, the Obama administration is driving Greece deeper into a depression that already has brought the far left to power. Greece desperately needs pro-market reforms. It spends too much on welfare; its…Ted Bromund -
- News
Marco Rubio’s Economic Plan to Make America ‘Greater Than We’ve Ever Been’
WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa—At a summer cookout here Tuesday evening, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio outlined the economic policies he would enact if elected president. “I’m running for president not because I think America’s doomed,” Rubio said. “I don’t believe America is doomed. I’m running for president because I believe that we are leaving on the table…Leah Jessen -
- Opinion
Time to Get Federal Government Out of Highway Spending Decisions
America’s interstate highway system, which broke ground in 1956 and was completed in the early 1990s, enables us to affordably travel more than 3 trillion miles per year on its roads. But even 20 years after its completion, funding for maintenance of the interstate highway system remains in the hands of Congress and federal bureaucrats….Michael Sargent -
- Opinion
Ending the Ex-Im Bank Is a Good Step to Rebuilding Our Economy
With the charter of the Export-Import Bank of the United States set to expire June 30, its supporters claim its demise would result in the loss of jobs, harm to the economy, and damage to U.S. competitiveness overseas. The truth, however, is that eliminating the billions of dollars of subsidies provided by the bank would…Bill Peacock -
- Opinion
Why Jeff Immelt’s Wrong That Letting Ex-Im Bank’s Charter Expire Would Be ‘Economic Catastrophe’
General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt unleashed yet another barrage of fearmongering today about the potential expiration of export subsidies. Before a speech at the Economic Club of Washington, Immelt claimed that allowing the charter of the Export-Import Bank to expire would be “economic catastrophe.” The facts say otherwise. GE and the other beneficiaries…Diane Katz -
- Opinion
The Cures Act and the Limitations of the Budget Control Act
What do you do when one-third of your budget is limited by a spending cap? Shift funding to the part of the budget that is not capped, of course! That is, if you are a Member of Congress. The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently passed the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 6) with unanimous…Romina Boccia -
- News
Entering 2016 Race, Jeb Bush Pledges 19 Million New Jobs, 4% Economic Growth
Jeb Bush didn’t keep his audience in suspense, announcing within four minutes of taking the stage in his adopted home of Miami that he is indeed a candidate for the Republican nomination for president. Bush made a direct appeal to conservatives in his speech at Miami Dade Community College, echoing Ronald Reagan’s emphasis on getting…Ken McIntyre -
- News
Here’s the Most Critical Amendments to the Military Spending Bill
This week, the Senate is debating the National Defense Authorization Act, which outlines the U.S. Department of Defense budget for fiscal year 2016. The legislation covers a broad scope of U.S. military policies and has been passed for 53 consecutive years. This year’s bill currently has over 500 amendments, ranging from military child care, funding…Diana Stancy -
- Opinion
Bachelet’s Labor Reforms Could Reduce Economic Freedom in Chile
Chile has the highest level of economic freedom in Latin America and was the 7th most economically free country in the world according to the 2015 edition of the annual Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom. But, if the Chilean Congress passes President Michelle Bachelet’s proposed changes to Chile’s labor code, that high…James M. Roberts -
- Opinion
Making This Change to Tax System Would Help Businesses, Economy Thrive
Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, is poised to reintroduce legislation that would make permanent so-called “bonus depreciation.” This legislation would enable businesses to deduct half their capital expenses when incurred rather than being forced to wait years before they can deduct their costs. This bill, which represents an important step towards tax reform, would reduce the cost…David Burton -
- News
The Valley of Missed Opportunity: One Town’s Fight for Economic Revival
WINDSOR, N.Y.—Marian’s Pizza Shack sits 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania line, an invisible boundary that separates this small business from economic opportunity. After 23 years in business, owner Marian Szarejko has decided to sell her pizza shack. “There are no jobs here,” Szarejko said. “Business has gone down so much that I am dipping into my…Alex Anderson -
- News
Can This Controversial Pipeline Boost the Economy and Protect the Environment?
It may seem like one of the smaller, less consequential clashes as environmental fights go, but the battle taking shape over a pipeline that would take natural gas from eastern Pennsylvania to the Trenton, N.J., area is fast becoming a proxy war for larger forces that could threaten the shale revolution on the East Coast…Kevin Mooney -
- Opinion
The 7 Steps the Next President Should Take to Boost Our Economy
Foreign policy should work to advance a constructive agenda—something that’s been largely lacking in the Obama era. Hopefully, the next president will come up with appropriate actions to fill that void. As a cornerstone of that effort, I would suggest a commitment to promoting free trade and more liberal markets worldwide. I’ve written before that…James Carafano -
- News
Mike Huckabee Hopes to Broaden Appeal With Focus on Foreign Policy, Economics
Mike Huckabee, who announced his candidacy for president this morning in Hope, Ark., tells The Daily Signal this election will be dominated equally by foreign policy and the “economics of the working-class people” in America. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, spoke with The Daily Signal during a recent trip to Iowa. He is the sixth…David Brody