Recently the notion of the "debt ceiling" has been appearing in the news. It's making a comeback after spending months in the spotlight last summer, when the federal government nearly shut down as federal debt reached the legal limit. (Lawmakers ultimately raised the limit in the eleventh hour.) Currently, it is projected that the federal debt will hit the new debt ceiling sometime before the end of 2012. To once again avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers will again have to raise the debt ceiling, which is now set at $16.4 trillion.

November 23rd is the deadline for the super committee, officially named the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. They’ve all but announced failure to come up with even $1 of their $1.2 trillion deficit reduction task. Since the creation of the super committee, we’ve been hearing there would be automatic, ...

There’s so much talk these days about federal deficits and cutting spending. So we at NPP thought it would be good to talk about tax revenues—the other half of the budget picture—and not just about spending (For some background on how the budget works, check out the People’s Guide to ...

Followers of "Ask Kyle" may be surprised to see this, as our good friend and colleague Kyle Andrejczyk posted his last post on September 12. But so many people found Kyle's work to be so helpful in explaining the craziness that went on this summer in Washington around the federal ...

England certainly seems like a long ways away my friends, both in terms of miles (or kilometers) and humor. And perhaps that’s a good thing considering the onerous prison sentences doled out as a result of the recent London riots. But as many of you on our Facebook page have ...

Well, people, it's August 1, just hours away from the deadline for raising the debt-ceiling and avoiding a disastrous U.S. credit default. As this story has unfolded, we've had some laughs, shared some disappointments and frustrations I'm sure, as well as a renewed our appreciation for the nuances of the ...

We left off last week with a Boehner-Obama breakup that would've made the writers of Dawson's Creek green with envy. On Friday, it was rumored the two were close to striking a deal on the debt-ceiling, but then Boehner started acting all weird and not returning Barry's phone calls. So ...

We left off last week with the White House talks crumbling, the GOP rallying around the sure-to-fail Cut, Cap & Balance Act, and Sen. Mitch McConnell's “last ditch” plan gaining traction, at least in the Senate. Here's what's happening this week (and if you have time, check out out this ...

A LOT of people have been asking me for details of what's been going on with the debt-ceiling. And rightly so, there's a flood of information out there. But here's the important stuff:On Thursday, July 7, President Obama met with Congressional leaders at the White House in an attempt to ...

Several folks wrote to me this past week with questions about all the debt ceiling talk going on in Washington right now. But first, let me ask all of you something: Can you feel it? That electric tingle in the air? The almost palpable feeling of magic and wonder reminiscent ...