Supercommittee Republicans offered a plan to eliminate tax preferences and reduce tax rates, as in the 1986 bipartisan tax reform. They argued that high tax rates would squelch economic growth.  They didn't make the case that their proposals would also address income inequality. But Paul Ryan, in a paper based largely on a CBO analysis of income trends between 1979 and 2007, has done so.

In the run-up to this weekend's G-8 summit at Camp David, journalists have unfavorably compared European "austerity" with Barack Obama's economic policies.

Two months ago, the House adopted a budget resolution that outlines the Republican majority's ambitious plans to slow the growth of federal entitlement spending. If implemented properly, entitlement spending restraint can address the long-term fiscal imbalance in a way that promotes economic growth and freedom.

Almost half of the public approve of Obama's handling of tax policy. After gaining ground in 2009 and 2010 as the party that Americans trust more on handling taxes, the Republicans appear to have lost some support in recent polls.

President Obama will meet with congressional leaders in an attempt to revive the debt-limit talks that broke down last week. GOP leaders need to realize that they are the ones with the leverage in these negotiations.

Here is another good news/bad news column about the 112th Congress.

The same money can't be spent twice. ObamaCare tries to do precisely that, and the government will have to borrow the difference.

Austerity measures in Europe have been the topic of a heated and mostly confused debate in the economic world. During the May summit of the leading industrial nations at Camp David, German chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders pushed for continued European austerity. Keynesian critics argue that these policies destroy economic growth.