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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news
How Conservatives Are Reacting to John Boehner’s Barn-Cleaning Budget Deal
Just days before he leaves Congress, Speaker John Boehner has once again managed to enrage conservatives. This time, it’s a mega-budget deal he struck with President Barack Obama—Boehner’s attempt to “clean the barn” upon his exit. “Based on what I know now, it appears the president got whatever he wanted,” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., told… -
opinion
How Marriage, Strong Families Contribute to Economic Growth
Is there a connection between strong families and a thriving economy? A new study, “Strong Families, Prosperous States,” takes a step toward answering the question. “Despite the clear economic gains associated with strong families at the individual level, economists across the ideological spectrum have failed to investigate whether strong families increase economic growth,” co-authors Brad Wilcox,… -
news
Jeff Flake Explains Why Republicans Want Entitlement Reform in Debt, Spending Deal
Congress has until November 3 to raise the debt limit so the government can borrow to pay its bills and avoid the risk of defaulting on its obligations. Meanwhile, government funding expires on Dec. 11. Today, multiple media outlets reported that House and Senate leaders are negotiating a two-year budget agreement that would raise the… -
news
Old Budget System Makes Modernizing Nuclear Defense Difficult
The need to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal is inevitable, but modernization of Major Force Programs for budget projections needs to come first, said panelists at The Heritage Foundation this month. The panel explained how informed discussion about the future costs of modernizing the nuclear triad is hampered by the disparity between the different… -
opinion
Why Congress Must Work to Balance the Budget
Important budget questions were discussed this week at a widely attended event by the Institute to Reduce Spending that featured Chairman of the House Budget Committee Dr. Tom Price, R-Ga., as well as a panel of experts (I was delighted to be among the panelists). Price explained that the goal of fiscal policy and of… -
opinion
How Congress Can Mess Up the Highway Spending Bill
With the threat of a government shutdown largely averted (at least until December), Congress is turning to address other must-pass measures it has skirted this fiscal year. Chief among them is the authorization for highway and transit spending, which is set to expire at the end of October following its latest $8-billion bailout in July…. -
opinion
Because of Defense Spending Cuts, Navy Won’t Have Aircraft Carrier in Middle East Anymore
Is the world becoming safer or more dangerous? Few people would select the first option. It doesn’t take Russia launching air strikes in Syria (to cite only one recent example) for most to admit that tensions are rising. So why in the world are we cutting defense spending? And not by small amounts. The U.S. military—which is… -
news
What Is the Link Between Culture and Economic Opportunity?
At a panel discussion on Tuesday at The Heritage Foundation, contributors to the 2015 Index of Culture and Opportunity discussed what they characterized as the essential link between culture and economic opportunity. Jennifer Marshall, the vice president of the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity, said that opportunity isn’t just limited to economics, but is… -
opinion
The Budget Battle: What You Need to Know
Federal funding for most government agencies and departments expires on Sept. 30. Lawmakers have just a few working days left to avert a government shutdown. At the same time, Congress is also facing budget deadlines this winter on the national debt, highway programs, regulations, and taxes. So can lawmakers do? The Heritage Foundation has published… -
opinion
The Redistributive State: How Government Shifts Economic Resources from High- to Low-Income Households
This week, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its annual report on income and income inequality. Historically, the official Census figures on inequality are misleading because they fail to account for most government fiscal redistribution. The high taxes paid by affluent households are ignored, and most of the government benefits and services received by lower-income… -
news
Conservative Group Won’t Support a Spending Bill That Funds Planned Parenthood
The House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, has announced that it will oppose any spending bill that grants taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood. In a statement, members of the group said: Given the appalling revelations surrounding Planned Parenthood, we cannot in good moral conscience vote to send taxpayer money to this organization while… -
opinion
The Link Between Political and Economic Freedom
More than 50 years ago, Milton Friedman’s seminal work “Capitalism and Freedom” reminded Americans of the founding principles that made us greatest nation on Earth (economic and political freedom, individualism, and the rule of law). America’s greatness lies in its people’s faith in these ideals and the constitution that embodies them. Central to Friedman’s vision—and… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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… -
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…