The U.S. federal deficit surged 156 percent in the year through June as expenditures jumped while revenues continued to weaken, according to the Department of the Treasury. The latest monthly Treasury statement (pdf), released on July 13, shows that the government posted a $228 billion budget deficit in June, up sharply compared to a budget…

America’s public debt is projected to rise to record levels over the next three decades, according to a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis, which noted that the government’s finances have improved a bit thanks to the GOP-led debt ceiling deal but overall remain “challenging.” The new forecast, released on Wednesday by the non-partisan spending…

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Monday that debt limit talks with Democrats and President Joe Biden are “not in a good place,” saying that Biden had delayed talks for 100 days. A debt ceiling meeting has been scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The meeting was originally set for last Friday but was postponed. Adding…

Commentary Sometimes there are signposts to what a government may be planning to do, and when it comes to the budget in Australia, the Grattan Institute is one. Its latest pointer is called “Back in Black” and is a submission on this May’s Federal Budget. As a centre-left think tank, sponsored by the Australian and…

With a little over a week before the federal government releases Budget 2023, a stress test of the current fiscal policy shows that Ottawa has a 30 percent chance of failing to achieve its core fiscal goal of reducing federal debt over a 10-year period, says a Fraser Institute study. The study, titled “Stress Testing the…

Canadian taxpayers will contribute more than $1,300 per person toward government interest payments for federal and provincial debts in the next year, for a total of $68.6 billion, according to a new study. On Feb. 2, the Fraser Institute, a public policy think tank, calculated Canada’s combined federal and provincial interest costs per person for…

Canada’s combined federal and provincial net debt is expected to exceed $2.1 trillion in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which is nearly double what it was 15 years ago, according to a new report. “Budget deficits and increasing debt have become serious fiscal challenges facing the federal and many provincial governments recently,” said the report authored by Jake…

Commentary The record high inflation that is plaguing Americans is being fueled by out-of-control federal spending. The federal government has spent over $6 trillion on COVID-19 related pandemic stimulus measures. The most recent, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was not even needed as most states are experiencing large surpluses. The national debt is over $30…

A majority of Americans, 61 percent, blame the Biden administration for soaring inflation, which is currently at a 40-year-high, according to a new survey published by WalletHub on July 20. The survey was conducted online from July 4 to July 8 to gauge what people know about the interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve (Fed) and how they impact consumers’…

Every Canadian’s share of federal debt has spiked by more than $12,000, or an increase of 35.3 percent, since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to office in 2015, a recent Fraser Institute study shows. The study compared the debt legacies of every Canadian prime minister since Confederation, looking at how much the federal debt increased or…