Is The Federal Debt Unsustainable? By Professor James K. Galbraith Excerpt A more prosaic problem with the runaway-inflation scenario is that the “nonpartisan, professional” economic forecasters of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), whose work is often cited as the benchmark proof of an “unsustainable path,” do not expect it to happen. The CBO baseline resolutely […]
Tag Archives: James K. Galbraith
Levy Policy Brief
The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College Public Policy Brief No. 103, 2009 FINANCIAL AND MONETARY ISSUES AS THE CRISIS UNFOLDS James K. Galbraith Beginning page 9: Warren Mosler picked up on the theme of human resource utilization and full employment in a particularly useful way. Mosler suggested that stabilization of employment and prices is […]
deficits and future taxes
[Skip to the end] (email exchange) The latest noise is that today’s deficits mean higher taxes later. Answer: 1. Taxes function to reduce aggregate demand. 2. A tax hike is never in order with a weak economy, no matter how high the deficit or how high the interest payments may be. 3. Future tax increases […]
National Journal Expert Blog debate on fiscal sustainability
[Skip to the end] What Is Fiscally — And Politically — ‘Sustainable’? By James K. Galbraith Professor of Economics, University of Texas June 11th —Chairman Bernanke may, if he likes, try to define “fiscal sustainability” as a stable ratio of public debt to GDP. But this is, of course, nonsense. It is Ben Bernanke as […]
On the floor of the Senate today
[Skip to the end] From the last two paragraphs it looks like another fiscal package is on the way? Interesting how little damage to the real economy it takes to trigger a fiscal response – GDP last printed at 3.3% and the relatively modest job losses are not nearly enough to have triggered a fiscal […]
A surge of a different type
[Skip to the end] Government spending kicking in with 2007 spending that was delayed to 2008: Topical article: The GOP’s December Surprise by James K. Galbraith Durable Goods Orders Rise Unexpectedly by Michael M. Grynbaum A separate report showed that orders for big-ticket items rose last month, beating economists’ expectations. A surge in export orders […]