National Debt

The current tax increases and spending cuts slated to go into effect January 2013 will likely lead to a recession, a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report says. On the other hand, preventing those policies from going into effect without replacing them with something comparable would lead to unsustainable amounts of public debt.

If the tax increases and spending cuts are allowed to occur, the CBO estimates that the economy will shrink 1.3 percent in the first half of 2013, followed by a meager 2.3 percent growth in the second half of 2013.

On the plus side, the additional revenue and lower spending will cut deficit spending by $560 billion, almost half of the projected $1.2 trillion 2012 deficit. more >>

Former GOP front-runners Herman Cain and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) will meet with the leaders from three of the largest tea party groups in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the American economy and the upcoming 2012 elections.

Billed as "A More Perfect Union Panel," the meeting will include leaders from TeaParty.net, Tea Party Nation and Tea Party Patriots. Tea party groups played a key role in the 2010 elections and are hoping to hold on to several seats that could be in jeopardy in 2012.

But recently, tea party activists took credit for defeating long-time GOP incumbent Dick Lugar in his Indiana primary last week, in part because they painted him as out-of-touch when it came to the fiscal concerns of many Americans. more >>

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill last week that seeks to end the practice of illegal immigrants getting child tax credit refunds. Attention was brought to the issue after an investigative report by a local television news station went viral on the Internet.

Illegal immigrants are fraudulently taking advantage of the federal income tax's child tax credit to the tune of $4.2 billion per year, reported Bob Segall of WTHR, an NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, Ind., on April 26. Since even those who do not pay takes can receive the credit, illegal immigrants have found that they are able to receive $1,000 per child from the federal government by filing taxes.

In some cases, though, the fraud goes even further. Segall found cases in which undocumented immigrants were taking the tax credit for nieces and nephews for whom they are not legal guardians and do not live in the United States. Some received more than $10,000 from the federal government. more >>

Medicare and Social Security are running out of money sooner than previously thought, according to the annual report of trustees of the Medicare and Social Security program. The report highlights the need for reforms to maintain solvency of the programs.

The Social Security trust fund for disability benefits will only last four years, until 2016, which is two years sooner than expected. The Social Security trust fund for retirees will be exhausted in 2033, three years sooner than last projected. Medicare will be bankrupt in 2024, the same as predicted in last year's report.

Four factors are driving the program's insolvencies: more >>

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released an analysis of the economic impact of President Barack Obama's 2013 budget proposal Friday. The report estimated that Obama's proposals would give the economy an initial boost, but that boost would come at the cost of decline in later years due to increased deficit spending.

For the first five years, 2013-2017, CBO estimated that the nation's economic growth would range between 0.2 percent lower to 1.4 percent higher than under current law. In the second five years, economic output would decline by somewhere between 0.5 percent and 2.2 percent.

Under current law, tax cuts that were initially passed during the George W. Bush administration and extended in 2010 would expire at the end of 2012. Obama's budget would increase deficits by making the tax cuts for all but the highest bracket permanent. more >>

House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan recently commented that the House Republican Budget for the federal government reflected Catholic principles. While Catholics have been debating the veracity of that claim, the occasion has also provided an opportunity for evangelicals of different political persuasions to debate how they understand biblical principles and the federal budget.

The Christian Post previously interviewed two Catholics, the Rev. Robert Sirico and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), and one evangelical theologian, Ron Sider. For another perspective, CP interviewed two politically conservative evangelicals, Jordan Ballor, research fellow at the Acton Institute, and Josh Good, an affiliate of Christians for a Sustainable Economy (CASE).

Ballor and Good were both in agreement with Sider that the large national debt, now over $15.6 trillion, is immoral in the way it passes debt from one generation to the next. Sider deserves a lot of praise, Ballor said in the interview, for bringing attention to the severity of the debt crisis. more >>