Six Bullets that Could Fix the Debt
No, it's not what you're thinking. The Compact Commission challenged me to create 6 bullet points that capture the benefits of the Compact for a Balanced Budget's compact “vehicle” for delivering its federal Balanced Budget Amendment “payload.” So here goes! Three bullets on the compact “vehicle”: Certainty: The Compact for a Balanced Budget delivers certainty by empowering the states to pre-commit 38 states and simple majorities of Congress to everything involved in advancin
Mercatus Study Supports Conclusion that Constitutional Debt Limits Matter
The Mercatus Center recently published a ranking of states by fiscal condition. You can read it here. This chart shows that every state had a balanced budget or a surplus except IL, KY, LA, MD, MA, NJ, NM and NY. That means 41 out of the 49 states that limit debt or require balanced budgets are not in the red. And that's with less-than-perfect constitutional debt limits. But that's not all. This chart shows that no state, not even New York, California or Illinois, has a per c
Reading is Believing
Often forgotten in the state-based effort to originate federal constitutional amendments is the quality of the amendment that might be proposed. This is because all other Article V amendment approaches, except for the Compact for a Balanced Budget, advance only a convention agenda. No one knows what specific amendment, if any, will be proposed. The Compact, however, advances a powerful, poll-tested, expert-vetted federal Balanced Budget Amendment that you can actually read. I
What Would Simon and Tsongas Do?
Perhaps you remember this guy: Former Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Simon (IL) Or this guy: Late Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas (MA) and Presidential Candidate Both of these gentlemen—hardly “arch conservatives”—supported a federal Balanced Budget Amendment. They recognized that democratic principles required a limit on the borrowing capacity of the federal government. In fact, here’s what Senator Tsongas said: A balanced budget amendment is “a cry for generational respo
Want to Make a Difference?
Some folks claim that a federal Balanced Budget Amendment would not make a difference. That may be true of some BBA proposals. But it is not true about the BBA at the heart of the Compact for a Balanced Budget. There’s a reason why Georgia, Alaska, Mississippi and North Dakota have already signed onto it. There’s a reason why more than twenty leading think tanks have joined the educational movement. There’s a reason why it has been endorsed by Lawrence Reed of the Foundation
What We Worry?
How huge and looming is that national debt crisis? The Brookings Institution recently declared it’s “worse than you think.” Take a look at this chart: Notice that interest is only 6% of the pie. That’s with interest rates that are half of historical levels. What happens if that 6% share becomes 12% because interest rates normalize? What happens if interest rates go back to 1970s levels, and the interest share expands to 24% of the pie or more? We submit to you any increase in
Less Debt Means Less Borrowing Cost
To illustrate the wisdom of supporting the Compact for a Balanced Budget, I wanted to share with you an email I received from one of our Educational Foundation’s Council of Scholars Members, Stephen Slivinski, who is a former Federal Reserve economist and is now Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty at Arizona State University. If you want to look at his mug, look to the left. Anyway, Steve wrote me in response to a request for research on the
Exploding Propaganda Series (Part 7 of 7): Section 7's Self-Enforcement Provision
The Compact for a Balanced Budget advances a specific Balanced Budget Amendment that you can read today, and which four states have already contractually committed to ratify. Read it here. Section 7 of the Compact's BBA states that the Amendment is self-enforcing. Strangely, even this provision has drawn the fire of the opposition. The term is included because there is case law that says constitutional provisions are not necessarily effective or enforceable unless enforced by
Award-winning Journalist Carey Pena Interviews CFAEF President Nick Dranias!
Carey Pena covers the Compact for America initiative from her new online independent journalism site! Nick Dranias explains why the political class is ignoring the federal fiscal disaster, why the root cause of unlimited, irresponsible federal policy is Congress' unlimited credit card, why we can expect cross-partisan support for the Compact and what CFA-Action is doing to make that happen. Check out this great 20 minute in-depth interview. #nonpartisanbalancedbudgetamendment
Exploding Propaganda Series (Part 6 of 7): Section 5's Tax Limit
The Compact for a Balanced Budget advances a specific Balanced Budget Amendment that you can read today, and which four states have already contractually committed to ratify. Read it here. Section 5 of the Compact's Balanced Budget Amendment imposes a default rule of requiring two-thirds of each House of Congress to pass any new or increased income or sales tax (including a VAT). It expressly or implicitly excepts from this default rule: 1) revenue increases from a new consum
