With the threat of a veto hanging over its head, the National Defense Authorization bill heads to the House floor today for debate. Among the provisions are several dealing with the question of a nuclear weapons armed Iran, and what the United States should do to avert a crisis, prepare to handle the threat, or eliminate the threat altogether.

On April 13, 2012, the US Department of the Treasury released new cost estimates for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Looking principally at actual and projected contractual cash flows, the document concludes that: "Overall, the government is now expected to at least break even on its financial stability programs and may realize a positive return." 

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded that there's an extra 13 auto accident deaths attributable to Income Tax Day (i.e., generally April 15, but which falls on April 17 this year). This is a drop in the bucket compared to the actual carnage that might be reasonably attributed to paying taxes in America.

The only winners in reducing OIRA"s budget for regulatory review and oversight would be special interests that wish to pursue their agendas.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget is keeping secret the detailed and long-term budget projections and parameters that it uses to forecast the deficit in future years.

This statement is available here as an Adobe PDF.  

The relative silence over the Obama administration's astonishing budget chutzpah is deafening, especially in comparison with the treatment received by Republican presidents.

Each new financial crisis teaches that the financial sector safety net consists of much more than the support explicitly promised to deposit institutions by their access to formal deposit insurance coverage and the Federal Reserve’s discount window.